Final Fantasy X: Story Edition
by Miharu Kishimoto
Summary: “I fight for Spira. The people long for the Calm. I can give it to them. It’s all I can give. Defeating Sin, ending pain… this, I can do.” Yuna. The exact game of Final Fantasy X recreated into story form. No manipulations. It's all organic and pure. :3
1. Prologue

Uploaded:  
6/20/07

**A/N  
(Intro + MUST READ!):  
**This was a great idea. The game is great, the storyline made me addicted to it, and the characters have great personality. I began an FFVII novelization, but the story was so complex, and some parts in the game I didn't quite understand, it became overwhelming and I postponed the continuation of it. For now. I'm not too impressed with it when I read back on it. FFX, however… is a wonderful, easy to understand, linear game. Even though FFVII is a better game… hehe. Anyway, some important rules you _must_ know. I'll be taking most of the dialogue from the game itself, the exact dialogue spoken, and the scenes encountered. I will _not_ manipulate the storyline or the character's personalities in any way, shape or form. It'd be an insult to Square-Enix. On ANOTHER note, I'm not going to add every single boss or mini-boss or enemy in this story edition. Battling in text is an interesting challenge, but with the amount of bosses and enemies in the game, it will be impossible to come up with something new and interesting each time. I'm only going to stick with the bosses that affect the storyline in some strong matter. Thank you.

Also, please notify me if I make a mistake somewhere in the story, or if I confused you too much on a particular part. I'll be happy to fix it. Just keep it constructive criticism, I get all sad when I get flaming criticism. Not really, I'll just backfire. ;)

_**On another note! Please read this!**_ It's likely I'm going to often revise my chapters throughout the process of finishing this story. So as I update my chapters, in each chapter I will announce at the very bottom what adjustments I've made to previous chapters. Every author sees constant flaws as they progress in their writing skills, as they read back on what they've formerly written.

A little side note:  
_Main character's thoughts_

**Disclaimer:**

Miharu: Hrmm… I'm here to inform yo--  
Rikku: No! Stop!  
Miharu: …What?  
Rikku: You're stealing my thunder…  
Miharu: You stole my gil allowance.  
Rikku: Well you stole my… my… urgh! Why do I have to be the thief?!  
Miharu: Because Tetsuya Nomura made you that way.  
Rikku: Okay, well… Anyway! -Drum roll- We don't o--  
Miharu: Nobuo Uematsu made that drum roll, you know.  
Rikku: …Fine! So they do own everything about me and my friends. What gives?  
Miharu: Thank you.  
Rikku: And if anyone dares steal their ideas, I'll… I'll…! I'll steal your lollipops!  
Miharu: Okay… That's enough, Rikku.  
Rikku: -Sigh-  
Miharu: On with the classic Final Fantasy Intro music, typically at all the start menus on each game.  
Nobuo: Thank you…  
Miharu: So, SquareEnix, Tetsuya, and Nobuo are the owners of Final Fantasy X. As well as all the other  
hardworking members who put their work into the game.  
Rikku: Shhh…! It's starting!  
Wakka: Rikku, go steal us some popcorn, ya?  
Rikku: Grrr…

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Final Fantasy X  
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_- 1 -  
__"__Prologue__"_

-+-

_Today, I feel…  
I feel like I'm dreaming  
…Maybe…_

_-+-_

None of them spoke. The heat of the campfire slowly died, and yet the eyes surrounding it remained motionless, dead. An aged warrior, a beautiful summoner, a beast-human, a female magician, a petit thief, a sporty blitzball player, and at last a young warrior. Every one of them stared blankly into the pit of flames, the embers fluttering up like bats, until they died into thin air. The young man quickly stood up from his seating position, turning around as if to walk off. Instead, he stopped where he was, and stood there for a minute. Gently, he placed his hand upon the young summoner's shoulder. She smiled wearily, staring at the ground in a calming sense, noticeably comforted by his reassurance.

Barely able to let go of the lady's shoulder, he continued on as his hand slid off her shoulder, climbing up the small hill right beside the campfire, using every muscle in his legs to do so. He was merely several feet above everyone else, only he gazed in the opposite direction, slowly consuming the breathtaking view being held before him. His bright golden-colored hair angled outwards slightly as his short hair spiked downwards, clearly pairing with his vibrant blue eyes.

The sky above held a pale goldenrod color as the sun begins to call it off, though the astounding view before him, nothing but several miles of ruins. A city so majestic, it makes one wonder how it became to be so dead, so motionless, and so brown in color. Floating around as if air was water, several hundred balls of light slowly swerved and weaved inside and above the city, every which way and that, forming little tails of colored light of which held bright colors within their watery presence. He gazed deeply, standing before his, and all the others', destiny. Only recently finding out what the others knew all along… how could he let this happen? With either path that was chosen, he, as well as everyone else, would be left heartbroken and devastated. He closed his eyes…

_Listen to my story. This… may be our last chance…_

_-+-+-+-_

**A/N:  
**Yeah, I'm sorry for such a short length. Chapter 2 will be up shortly. Well… it depends how long I decide to make my chapters. If you have an opinion then you better let me know now, so I can make them short and quick, or long and well… long. This is going to be… one… long… project. Reviews motivate me to finish them, you know. ;) Read this story, review, and I might just read your stories, and review on them, too!

Aaand, until next time… Miharu, logging out.


	2. From Fame To Tragedy

Uploaded:  
6/21/07

A little side note:  
_Main character's thoughts_

**Disclaimer:**  
_(Refer to "1. Prologue")_

**A/N:  
**This chapter has taken far too long to finish. One reason being, well, I finished it completely, and then I had to TYPE IT OVER… I was so upset. Well, look how long this chapter is. I had to go by memory and retype the whole thing. Well, I actually think I did a better job this time. Maybe I should do that more often. Typing up a chapter, then typing it over to make it all sexier and stuff… Lol. Sorry. Anyway, go on… read!

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Final Fantasy X  
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_- 2 -  
__"__From Fame to Tragedy__"_

-+-

_It started out so well_

_All those people_

_Cheering and chanting my name_

_Star blitzer!_

_And then it ended_

_Not for me_

_But for everyone_

_For Zanarkand…_

_I just so happened to be one of the lucky ones_

_-+-_

It was most certainly a prosperous city. There was not a moment when this enormous northern city drifted to sleep. Its people scattered every corner like ants within their anthills, always doing something but nothing. Fun, no work. It's what this city has always been. Machina, advanced machinery created and invented by the Al-Bheds, worked while the people played. Blitzball was a huge sport in Spira, a simple ball sport that took place underneath the water, within a large sphere pool. It was a sleepless city, highly advanced and so very free.

The city's appearance was like nothing nobody has ever seen in their lifetimes. Many buildings filled the city from corner to corner, tall skyscraper, oddly-shaped buildings so tall they scraped even the sky's barriers. Small waterfalls decorated themselves off the buildings so very high in the air. There was no one ground to explore upon. Bridges and levitated highways weaved through and between the buildings, all adding up to be one large maze nobody could ever thoroughly explore in less than a couple weeks. Lights constantly burned brightly from every building's window, from every neon sign, from every decoration within the city's walls. The largest advance in technology, the most fun and growth in population, home of the largest and fanciest blitzball stadium in all of Spira, the only city with literally everything anyone could ever imagine…

Zanarkand.

"I know, it's great, isn't it?" One girl with a deep crimson-colored hair giggled, "I can't believe the Zanarkand Abes are _this_ close to winning the finals! After beating the Duggles, it'll be our first championship since Jecht was on the team! Hehe!"

"Well, you have to admit, that one blonde guy is our only reason. Ever since he joined the team last year, our team is doing ten times better than before Jecht disappeared."

"I know… It's sad. I wonder what ever happened to him?"

The two girls giggled for a few short moments longer, surrounded by many other adoring fans near the docks and the bridge leading to the blitzball stadium out in the sea. The famous Zanarkand Abes would soon exit their luxurious boat to greet their fans with determined smiles and readied pens. The hatch slowly opened as the crowd soon forgot about any discussion or debate they had just carried, no longer seeming that important.

Many players began to exit the boat and onto the dock in a single file, waving their arms up gracefully for their screaming fans. The players began rising their fists in the air repetitively as they chanted their signature motive. Most of the crowd quickly cleared in hopes to meet some of the players. The last one exited by himself, not following his fellow team mates, but stood there with a grin to his lips. He would stay a minute in consideration to his fans.

"Oh my god, it's him!" One girl hollered as the crowd quickly swarmed to his direction. "It's Tidus!"

He went through this every time. It kind of bore him, all the fan girls constantly swarming after him. It was a nice life, though. Being this popular. Everybody knew who he was, not only because of his expertise in blitzball, but for being the son and blood of the greatest blitzer ever known: Jecht.

The young, golden-haired boy spun his blitzball atop his finger as basketball players do, then let go of it and drop kicked it into the air towards the other players. A couple fan girls chased after it as the other players caught it, passing it back and forth playfully. Fans clawed for the ball.

He shook his head and grinned, stepping out into the stadium's outside center, and before he took a step further, he was halted by a group of girls. Most of the fans held their own blitzball in their possession for autographs. The crimson haired, dark-skinned girl held out her blitzball shyly.

"Can I have your autograph?"

Tidus smiled at this girl's shyness, and whipped out his pen, pulling the cap off with his teeth.

"Of course." He managed to say through his teeth. The girl giggled.

"Good luck tonight!" The other, more energetic girl dressed in a small pink top said.

"Nothing to worry about." He reassured, and signed the blitzball. "Oh, and if I score a goal, I'll… do this!" He then held up three fingers from each hand, holding his arms up high. "That will mean it was for you, okay?" The girls giggled together, the red-haired one especially shy, blushing. "What seat?"

"East block in the front row, fifth from the right."

"Got it." He smiled, and politely nodded to them as he parted to meet a group of three young boys. They bounced up and down in anticipation for his visit. They grinned from ear to ear. One instantly offered his blitzball to Tidus.

"Can you sign this?"

"No prob." He signed, as the two other boys held up their blitzball in response.

"Please?"

"Alrighty…"

"Me too!" The last one hopped up and down impatiently.

"Heh, take it easy." As he signed the last one, he recapped his pen, giving other fans a look that said he'll get to them after the game. He knew he was late as it is; the other players were probably impatiently waiting in the locker room for him to arrive. "Well, the game's about to start… I have to go. Cheer for me."

"…two, three…!" the boys gathered, and exclaimed altogether, "Teach us how to blitz!!"

Tidus scratched the back of his head.

"Hey, I got a game to play."

"Then… teach us after!"

"Maybe tonight…? Um… well…" Just then, a very short figure whom which seemed to appear out of nowhere in the near shadow against a wall, spoke up. It was cloaked in a purple jacket of some sort, hooded, containing an odd-looking circular golden design on the back of the jacket. All one could tell was it was dark-skinned; the hood covered its face up too much to be able to tell whether it was a young boy or a young girl.

"You can't tonight." Oddly enough, Tidus seemed to know the figure, though he didn't really.

"I mean… tomorrow." He grinned to the boys.

"Promise?"

"Promise." He nodded.

The kids all bowed down together, then moved their arms around and back together in front of them in some sort of prayer. Tidus seemed to understand it well, as if it were some sort of ritual prayer for blitzball.

Shortly afterwards, he headed on his way to the stadium, but first, he had to cross a wide bridge levitated above the city and directing to the stadium. He stopped for a moment to take in an extremely large projection upon a building near the blitzball stadium. He sighed and turned to face it, gazing up at it for several moments.

The image was a middle-aged man, powerful and determined looking. He had tanned skin and was very well-built. His head wore a red bandana, his brown hair spiking off down passed his shoulder blades a little bit, and his arms were strongly crossed.

Tidus shook his head and gave somewhat of a scowling smirk, before strolling onwards with a neutral "hm."

The loudspeaker suddenly spoke, coming from the blitzball stadium. It seemed to be more like a story before an announcement.

"I was in a coffee shop running away from home when I heard the news. Our hero, Jecht, gone. Vanished into thin air! My dad must have been his biggest fan. I knew how sad he'd be. Heck, we all were that day. 'Zanar,' I said to myself, 'what are you thinking?' I went straight back home. We sat up talking 'bout Jecht all night. My dad and I never talked so much… Whoa, heh, didn't mean to reminisce, folks." The voice suddenly became more enthusiastic.

"Anyway, ten years later, the Jecht Memorial Cup tournament is today! The two teams that have won through the finals are, of course, the Abes from A-East and the Duggles from C-South! I know there's a lot of people out there today to see the star of the Zanarkand Abes! In just one year, he's become the team's number one player. He's Jecht's blood, and the new hope of blitzball! What kind of super play will he show us today? Will we see his father's legendary shot? I don't think I'm the only one excited here, folks!"

Tidus grinned to himself. He arrived.

He could hear them. Tens of thousands of fans calling, shouting, cheering, chanting for the Zanarkand Abes. It was an experience like nothing before. His heart spoke loudly and nervously to him. Just outside, he would walk into the largest blitzball stadium known to Spira, and the most enormous sized crowd Tidus has ever played for. All of them… and only one of him. They cheered for just him.

The stadium was circular all around, representing a majestic lower half of a sphere as the top part opened up. In the center of the stadium rested an enormous arc coming far up out of the ground, and curving over and back down in a perfect half circle.

Machina projected electrical-appearing bright blue energy towards the center of the arc, and the more the energy collided within one another, the larger a blue spherical ball of energy grew. Its growth ascended at an alarming rate. This excited the fans; they knew it would be starting soon.

Tidus breathed heavily as he stood in front of the large door hatch. Its center turned, and slowly the door began to part open, revealing the breathtaking stadium before him. He felt so small, so insignificant, and yet he was the reason half the fans anticipated the game. His blitzball rested against his hip under his arm as he stepped up onto his platform, into view. The fans grew wild.

A smile crossed his lips. He held a determined appearance, ready to win this championship. He wasn't about to leave thousands of fans heartbroken and disappointed with him. No, no. He'd have to kill himself trying. His blue eyes reflected the bright energy emitting from the center, and widened his eyes in anticipation as the large sphere then gathered an even brighter form of energy towards its center, and then exploded, sending the entire crowd swaying back, gasping loudly with amazement.

The sphere was now replaced with an electromagnetic field holding water in its place, suspended within the arc, so massive that the spherical pool caressed the inner edges of the arc. Each player stood at their team's side, each on their own individual platform near the pool. They all awaited the signal, everyone grew quiet. Once the loud horn called…

They all dove in.

It was a short game as of far, but the Zanarkand Abes had already scored their first goal. Two blitzers high-fived each other within the water, giving each other a thumbs up as an alternative to speaking. The players swam about speedily for the ball, some of them taking positions near their opponents' goal as an open pass. They tackled, struggled, passed, swam, and dodged.

Tidus made a pass to his fellow team mate near the Duggles' goal, but was immediately tackled by another offending Duggle member. The game went on like this for quite awhile, passing back and forth, catching and tackling, sometimes Tidus even tackled a Duggle out of the pool and into the crowd. He always crossed his arms, feeling proud of doing this.

-+-

While in the meantime… a mysterious cloaked figure, unhooded however, strolled about calmly throughout Zanarkand near the blitzball stadium. He watched outwards to the see in the opposite direction, nothing the blitzball fans or players would yet see. He stood out upon a ledge high above Zanarkand, gazing into the sea.

Just as he expected. He sensed it was coming, and held his arm out as if to welcome it. The sea slowly formed a monstrous buldge from below, rising and rising, higher and higher as it sped quickly and majestically towards the city of Zanarkand. It resembled a tidal, but had no arching wave. Something about it was most certainly wrong.

-+-

Tidus squirmed from an opponent's grasp, clutching tightly onto the blitzball he possessed. Retaliating quickly, he broke free and instantly passed the ball to another player, successfully catching it. They continued to swim with acceleration, hearing the low, drowned out cheer of the fans, being within the water.

-+-

This man cloaked in red, remaining astonishingly calm as if he expected this thing's arrival, walked along the bridge that led to the stadium. He knew where he needed to go. Stepping into the puddle, the splashed water drops did not splash back into the puddle or on the ground. They slowly levitated in the air for a moment, then slowly began to rise from behind him.

He could feel it. He wasn't sure if anyone else could, seeing the laughing children chase each other as they passed him. It saddened him to think they would be laughing not much longer. He could feel the gravity defying force slowly beginning to pull at his body, though it did nothing, he could feel it because he expected it.

The monstrosity of the tidal slowly began to tower over Zanarkand as if something resided just underneath it. It was quiet, and deadly. Buildings near it were either swallowed up in its path, or slowly began to break, being pulled towards the water with strong gravitational force. It would swallow everything.

-+-

Tidus knew this was the end. Time was running out, and the two teams scored a current tie. Once he finished the game with his final move, it would be sure the Abes would win, and he would make every one of his fans, out of tens of thousands, very proud. He'd be a hero in history.

He had the current possession of the blitzball, and after positioning it in front of him, he swam straight up with the ball at his head, like a seal nosing a beach ball around with its nose. He continued to swim vertically, speedily, until at last he surfaced out the very top of the sphere pool, allowing the blitzball to spin endlessly in front of him. He started to do a backflip, flexing out his right leg in preparation for a downward kick.

Before he could do so, he saw something that made everything stop… His mind sweltered with a sudden fear he had yet to identify. A tidal wave… no, it was something more. He didn't have time to think. The very next thing he saw were about four or more massive bright orbs of energy being shot from the tidal, screaming passed him and into Zanarkand, slicing through the buildings so fast, it took about three seconds for the buildings to break, fall, and collapse. Destroyed. One of the attacks struck the blitzball stadium at harsh speeds, and abrubtly disembled the entire stadium in one, large strike.

It exploded. And before he could land back in the sphere pool, it was gone. He reacted quickly, and grabbed onto the ledge of the large arc, holding on for dear life. Thousands of fans immediately began to run for their lives, screaming bloody murder in complete confusion. Safety was nowhere to be found. But it didn't stop them. Because of the stadium being so crowded, many could not make it out in time, as they were left behind to be crushed and drowned.

The sphere pool completely dicipated and was no longer supported by the force of the arc. Smoke and dust rose up blindly from the rubble that had collapsed and caved in. Tidus remained hundreds of feet in the air, hanging on with two, sometimes one hand as he lost grip.

He dared not look back into the chaos brought into the once prosperous and free city of Zanarkand. The screams below him dicipated, he knew not whether it was because everyone had escaped, or… no, he couldn't think about that. He hung on for his own life, and struggled to be one of the few to survive.

Another explosion took place, and shook the entire stadium abruptly.

He lost his grasp, and fell.

_-+-+-+-_

**A/N:** I had to retype this entire chapter by memory… so praise this chappy. I accidentally saved something else over it today, and retyped the entire thing… today. So be proud of me. I'm already half way finished with the third chapter. Whoo, I'm speeding… So, keep me on your alert list. ;) I'll satisfy your expectations of this. Hopefully. Remember, review and I'll be likely to review you back!

_**UPDATES:  
**__6/21/07_ - Chapter 1, the Prologue, has been slightly modified.


	3. Sinscales & Zanarkand's Goodbye

Uploaded:  
6/22/07

A little side note:  
_Main character's thoughts_

**Disclaimer:**  
_(Refer to "1. Prologue")_

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Final Fantasy X  
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_- 3 -  
"__Sinscales and Zanarkand's Goodbye__"_

-+-

_It's been heaven_

_Turned into hell_

_Please, someone tell me_

…_What happened?_

_-+-_

His mind was faded, his vision blurred. All he could hear were screams of terror swiftly running passed him, all around in a chaotic flurry. Water soaked his feet, swishing all around as the sphere pool was slowly being drained from the stadium's grounds. He found himself resting against a large pile of rubble just outside the blitzball stadium. Slowly, he began to stand, wobbling a little in desperate progress. His head suddenly exploded with pain as he clutched it firmly in excruciating misery.

Suddenly, everything that had just occurred, flooded back to his memory. His eyes widened, and the extreme headache was soon forgotten.

He spotted a familiar figure in the near distance, cloaked in red.

"Auron!" He was relieved, and headed to this man's direction, stumbling in the process, "What are you doing here?"

"I was waiting for you…" the man said lowly, then walked off.

"What are you _talking_ about?" Tidus asked in frustration, though followed this 'Auron.' He had to know something about this chaotic incident, or he wouldn't have been acting so calm and not surprised while everyone else was running for their lives. Tidus should have been, too. But he wanted answers, and Auron seemed very well to have them.

It was then when he lost Auron's location. Within the massive, swift moving crowd every which way and that, he desperately searched for a familiar figure aged from within the chaos. He was unsuccessful. He was cold, drenched, probably had several bruises and cuts from his fall. But it mattered not. If anything, he wanted answers. He needed to know what was going on, that was what he had been suffering from most. The unknown. Why? And what?

He didn't know whether he was hallucinating or not, but everything froze. Completely. It was quiet… and everyone else froze within their spots, a cry for help painted on their frozen faces. It was devastating to even look at. Tidus himself could move, and glanced around in complete confusion. Nothing seemed to surprise him anymore, after everything that had just happened.

It was then when he spotted a somewhat familiar figure. A short figure, cloaked in a hooded purple outfit. Its face was shadowed over, so Tidus couldn't really see even if it were a young boy or a young girl. He noticed it was dark-skinned, though. He didn't see it here before.

"It begins." It said. Tidus now knew he wasn't alone. He continued to try to examine the small figure, wondering who it was, and what it was talking about. "Don't cry."

Everything unfroze. Everyone began to run in chaos once more, the noise revived, as if nothing ever happened. Which, to them, it was true. Nothing did happen. Tidus looked back, and the hooded figure was gone.

"What the…?" He glanced all around, and stumbled his view upon the recognizable Auron. Finally. Auron stood his solid ground, angling his view slightly up into the sky. "Hey! Wait! Not this way!"

"Look…" Auron replied lowly. Tidus followed Auron's gaze, and suddenly forgot everything about escaping to safety. In this situation, there was no safety. His eyes caught onto something a bit too unbelievable for his own eyes. He couldn't quite make out what it was, but he knew it wasn't right. He could feel a terrible vibe coming from it.

It was a massive sphere of water suspended in the air above Zanarkand. Astonishingly larger than every sphere pool in every blitzball stadium in all of Spira… put together. Its size alone startled him.

"We called it 'Sin.'"

"Sin…?"

Before Auron received the chance to reply, they both heard a crash upon a building nearby. They both eyed some large… thing attached to the side of the building. It had many tentacles swaying out and about, one large, thick tentacle centering the beast. That's about all it was, many tentacles attached to a very large and rectangular black object. Tidus looked back at Auron, though received no expression different than a calm one. How much did Auron know…?

In a mere second, the center tentacle's scales all flew out and scattered about the sky around them. Some of the large scales landed near Auron and Tidus, sticking firmly to the ground in front of them. Tidus watched, startled. The scales then cracked open and formed into a set of large wings in comparison to the creatures' bodies. They looked like extremely large blue moths of some sort, screeching and moving back and forth, threatening with Tidus. He waved his arms around in attempt to attack, which obviously did nothing. "Get away!" One of the sinscales pulled its wings together and lunged forward to attack Tidus, only did not, a mere threat. Startled, Tidus fell backwards on his rear.

"Take it…" Auron said lowly. Tidus stood up and looked over, noticing Auron carrying a sword, handing it to Tidus. It was large and somewhat curved into a fancy design. Somehow, Tidus' recognized it. He raised the sword up into the air slightly to examine it, then caught himself off-guard by the sword's heavy weight, drifting to the side before he caught himself. "A gift from Jecht." Tidus widened his eyes, and shot a look at Auron.

"My old man?"

"I hope you know how to use it…"

Tidus shook off his fear, took the sword and looked at the creatures with determination crossing his face, filled with anger. With a harsh yell, he jumped up and sliced down onto one of the sinscales, then swiped through the other two. It took a few tries, growing accustomed to the weight of the sword, but he knew he could handle it. He's never used a sword before.

"Don't bother going after all of them. We cut through the ones that matter and run!" Auron exclaimed.

Tidus never realized how many sinscales there really were until he looked around. The bridge was filled with them… hundreds. He gasped to himself, but obeyed Auron's command. They both ran along the bridge, Auron participating in the fights as they slashed through sinscale after sinscale. By now, Tidus was growing used to this. It was becoming somewhat easy, but exhausting.

They continued up the bridge, hiking up a broken rise in it. The sinspawn, the tentacle creature, landed itself upon the bridge, and apparently that's what Auron was after. Tidus dropped a sweat and gasped to himself. He just started to fight, he wasn't sure if he was exactly ready to fight that large… thing. Whatever it was. It was planted into the ground, cracked concrete surrounding it, tentacles swaying from side to side atop of it high in the air. Tidus felt the anger. It was time to get revenge on what destroyed his city. Even though this creature wasn't the one to destroy it… It contributed; and to Tidus, that was enough.

"Get out of my town!" He yelled.

"Some can't wait to die…"

Tidus immediately started with a swift attack, attacking some sinscales around the monster as he attempted the monster. Surprisingly, he damaged it quite a bit. He noticed a couple of the tentacles beginning to disappear and deaden with each attack. Auron also participated, slashing through the motionless monster. Only the sinscales could really damage the men.

But even though… he thought wrong. The tentacles started swaying around with acceleration, and then Tidus felt a strong blow as his vision went completely black for a few moments. He heard Auron also grunt in pain. His vision blurred, and darkened, and felt his energy descend. It scared him; he didn't understand what was going on. But quickly, his vision cleared and brightened. He felt weaker.

"Here!" Auron tossed Tidus a small bottle. "Drink it. Now." Doing so, Tidus opened the small capsule and downed it, feeling instantly energized and stronger. "You'll be needing them soon. They're regular potions; drink them when you become low on health. The sinspawn used Demi on you."

"What about you?"

"I don't need one yet."

The tentacles were nearly gone, Auron must have been gifting the monstrosity sinspawn with several blows while Tidus stood there a moment ago, trying to figure out what he had been attacked with.

"Concentrate on the scales. I'll finish it!" Auron commanded as he slashed through the large creature, while Tidus swiped through the scales, killing them off one by one, and yet noticed more to replace the ones that have been killed. Seeing this, he simply concentrated on keeping Auron's surroundings clear and unharmed as Auron attacked the final blow to the spawn. Its centermost, largest tentacle deadened and fell limply at its side. It was dead. Tidus heaved a sigh.

"That was close…" As Tidus glanced around, he noticed the dimming projection of his father's image on the side of the building. "What are you laughing at, old man?" He said lowly to himself, and then turned to Auron. "Auron! Let's get out of here!"

"We're expected." He stated.

"Huh?"

Auron took off.

"Give me a break, man!" Tidus quickly followed Auron back the way they came. For several moments of chasing after Auron to merely keep up, Auron stopped. The sky suddenly rained with sinscales, all latching onto the entire bridge in front of them. Thousands of them. They went to turn around, but noticed they became trapped when another raining sky of sinscales landed upon the entire bridge. They were trapped.

Quickly, they brought out their swords and readied their selves. They knew they were done for; even Auron seemed to unexpect this. For once, he unexpected something serious. His entire plan was broken, Tidus could tell. Tidus didn't care, however, he was confident enough to bring down his sword on some of the sinscales, only to find them being replaced by more. They were completely surrounded. Auron really had no other choice than to pitch in, either, so he did. Every time they killed a scale, they were only replaced by more, persisting their threats and attacks upon the two men. After two douses of potions handed to him by Auron, and Auron even having to consume one himself, he sighed to himself.

"Hmph… This could be bad."

"You think?!" Tidus exclaimed sarcastically. Auron ignored this, and spotted a tank of some sort hanging onto the edge of the bridge in links. His face brightened.

"That! Knock it down!"

"What?!" Tidus' eyes widened. "Are you crazy?"

"Trust me. You'll see." So they did, Tidus and Auron both swung down on the tank, breaking it from its hold onto the bridge and watched it fall. Before the tank landed, they immediately escaped, ignoring any scratches the scales might leave on them.

And before they knew it… a loud explosion filled their ears, feeling the entire bridge shake violently. The building of which projected Tidus' father, Jecht, slowly began to collapse above them. Reacting within a split second, they managed to escape just in time. Only, this was not enough. The entire bridge began to set off explosions everywhere like an activated mine field. The great sphere in the sky, so called "Sin," opened up a small opening at the bottom, pulling a great gravitational force upon all the rubble, broken bridges, and buildings in the destroyed city Tidus once called home. Now it's nothing but hell to him…

They both stood there for a moment, watching the bridge before them completely break, and become a dead end. Tidus looked at Auron with a defeated expression on his face. He knew there was no escape now; he had yet to figure out why Auron was in such a hurry. Safety? Where was this? Everything around them, exploding, being sucked up, rubble, fire… Zanarkand, and everyone within it, was dead. Auron and Tidus will soon be, too.

"Go…" Auron said without a glance at Tidus. Tidus wouldn't question Auron today, he was the one who kept him alive as of far. If it wasn't for Auron, Tidus would have found himself dead a long time ago. Probably merely by the sinscales. Who knew? But he obeyed, and ran with all the energy his muscles would emit. They ran alongside each other, dodging explosions as they went, being blinded by the fire and smoke. But they both jumped once the bridge's edge came near. Tidus did not know whether Auron made it or not, but he desperately lengthened his jump with all the force he could, forward, forward, just a little bit more…

Success.

Tidus made it, but only by a few inches. He clawed a hold of the bridge's edge, struggling to bring himself up, however, he lost the strength to do so.

"Auron!" He cried. Everything was being sucked up into Sin, very slowly. The gravitational pull was far too intense, even for large bridges and buildings. But it was slow, and Sin would only consume what it wanted, which weren't the bridges or buildings, or rubble of any type. "Auronnn!!" Tidus cried again, in frustration and agony. Why couldn't Auron hear him? Could he? They were right below Sin, nearly within the bright opening Sin had opened for them.

Auron looked up. "…You are sure?" Tidus couldn't seem to understand what he was talking about, but he slowly made his way onto the bridge with his upper half in help of the gravitational defiance. Auron kneels down to pick Tidus up by his collar. Tidus could barely stand to have his eyes open, the brightness was far too intense. "This is it…" Auron stated lowly. "This is your story. It all begins… here…" Tidus could only open his eyes enough to see Auron's image become distorted and extended, being sucked into Sin. Somehow, he knew he was next, and cried out loud when he felt his body be tugged at by the suction. This was it… He doubted he would ever see Zanarkand again. It was his last chance to say goodbye…

…

"Hey!" It was… bright. Nothing could be seen. The voice called again. "Heey!" Tidus knew the voice. Very well… But knew not what happened to himself, or even where he ended up.

"My… old man?" He opened his eyes, and found himself in… water? No… nothing made sense. Nothing ever did that day, however. He was surprised that his mind didn't explode. He rubbed his memory a few times to get it straight, and it remained the same. He found himself swimming… floating… above Zanarkand. Like air had been turned into water. His vision blurred for a moment, but he concentrated on keeping it focused. He became suddenly tired, and blurred… nothing made sense. Nothing…

He spotted himself. As a boy, he spotted himself standing upon a wide circular pillar. He remembered…

_I thought about a lot of things… like, where I was, and what I'd got myself into. I started to feel… light-headed… and then, sleepy. I think I had a dream. A dream of being alone… I wanted someone, anyone, beside me. So I didn't have to feel alone anymore…_

-+-+-+-

**A/N:**  
So, yes, you might be confused at the end of the chapter… but, it's one of those things that click in place soon enough… at the very _end_ of the game/story, that is. ;3 It always lost me, but after watching everything at the end, it all made complete sense. Stick around for chapter 4, you know you want it. Review, please. I'll review your stories in return. Maybe… ;)

_**UPDATES:  
**__6/21/07_ - Made some minor adjustments to Chapter 2, "From Freedom to Fame." I noticed some errors, changed some words, nothing major._**  
**__6/21/07_ - Added the dates each chapter was uploaded to - Made some minor adjustments to the A/N Intro in Chapter 1, the "Prologue." _**Must read!**_


	4. Alone in a Foreign World

Uploaded:  
6/25/07

**A/N:  
**I apologize for a more-delayed-than-usual update, even though it's still  
rather quick. I've been busy with finals for the past week or so, quickly  
packing in school stuff so I don't need summer school for one particular  
class… That would suck. Anyway. I should be back on track. Let's see what  
you think of this chapter! Not much talking going on except Tidus running into a  
few "minor" problems… so nothing but description  
will be slightly challenging for awhile.  
Enjoy.

A little side note:  
_Main character's thoughts_

**Disclaimer:**  
_(Refer to "1. Prologue")_

------------------  
----------------------  
Final Fantasy X  
----------------------  
------------------

_- 4 -  
"__Alone in a Foreign World__"_

-+-

_I woke up alone_

_My home_… _gone_

_Now what?_

_I've never felt so alone before_

_What ever does Sin want with me_…?

_I wonder how Zanarkand is now_

…_Nevermind_…

_I don't want to know_…

_-+-_

His mind gathered in one piece as he desperately tried to wake up. He felt himself drenched, not knowing whether it was from a cold sweat or water. His upper half was rested, facedown, against a cold, hard stone of some sort. Rubble…? Not from Zanarkand…

His eyes slowly opened, vision blurred, mind faded. Concentrating very hard to focus, he could see enough to know he was in a foreign world. Alone.

"Auron?" He looked around… In the far distance, he couldn't make out the horizon, whether it was just a bunch of mountains, terrain, or buildings. But the sky was black, from night but mostly from the dark, deadly clouds overhead, flashing a bright frightening violet outline due to constant flashes of lightning. Auron was nowhere to be found. But he did find himself stranded in a shallow-watered area full of old rubble sticking out from beneath the water. Pillars and large concrete blocks were everywhere. A large crow-looking bird flew off as it squawked awkwardly, and somewhat, creepily. "Heeeey!" He cried out, hoping with all his life to receive something, anything that let him know someone was out there, too.

No one…

He scanned the area with a heavy sigh. He has never been more terrified in his entire life, nor alone. It would even be nice if his father was here… as surprising as it may sound. It was then that he spotted a landing somewhat near, that would hopefully lead into somewhere safe and warm. Hopefully…

After swimming carefully around the high broken pillars of rubble and other large debris of the sort, he made it onto the landing and quickly dried off what he could of himself. Again, he looked around. It was deadly, eerie quiet… it made his spine shiver in fear, he had no clue where he was and how exactly safe he was in this unknown place. He knew one thing, it certainly didn't look safe…

Carefully, he strode along a narrow, aged bridge of brick in hopes of finding someplace in the darkness before him. The water below him was black, it frightened him to think of the unknown that lies beneath. Luckily, he didn't drop possession of his sword in the whole process of getting here. However that was…

He shivered. The air was dense with fear, he could feel it crawl up his spine and through his neck. If he were to go anywhere right now, it would be to find Auron, or anybody that could tell him where he was, or even help him. His feet lost balance as the bridge beneath him shook and rumbled. Caught off-guard, he stumbled on his own feet but regained his balance.

_I don't want to die_…

_I don't want to die_…

_Someone please help me_…

Suddenly, before he expected it, the rotten bridge beneath him collapsed underneath his feet. He fell into the black waters that resided beneath him full of unknown entities. Tidus opened his eyes slowly and surfaced, glancing around nervously. He froze, but then calmed, also noticing the water to be much colder than expected. It was an awkward cold, however. The cold of the haunted.

Before he could think, he heard and felt a loud splash come up over him, only able to catch sight of a large green creature diving back into the water. Another splash split seconds following the first. This time he caught sight of a large, piranha-looking fish with large red fins on its back and very long fins at its sides, pointing off into claw-like tips. Their faces were small and stubby, bearing sharp teeth, holding a threatening look in their eyes. They were hungry…

He was a blitzball player, right? This meant he was an expertise at swimming underwater. He could handle this. Quickly, he dove underneath, swiftly readying his sword in the process as he spotted the two demon fish. Watching one swim right over him as if a threatening tease, he brought up his sword and allowed the fish to cut itself swimming right through it. Dark crimson blood spread from the now motionless fish. He glared at the other one, and noticed a third one approaching from the depths of the water.

He wondered just how many there were, it frustrated him.

Speedily swimming towards one of the fish, he swiped it, then swiped at the last one, but it dodged. They were quick… Almost too quick. Tidus heaved a breath underwater.

Out of nowhere, the fish instantly began to swim away. Wait, away? Why away? Tidus started to go after it, but he stopped dead frozen. He saw something… A small light from deep within the water. Out of an underwater cave entrance or something. Then, there were several lights. Three, four, six, eight… All grouped together.

They moved outward, and the further into the open they moved, Tidus noticed they were all connected to something huge. He backed away as his heart began to race.

He wasn't sure what it was. A large fish of some sort, he knew that. A monstrous fish. It contained no eyes from what he could see, and several what appeared to be tentacles sprouting from its back, the bright orbs of light attached at the end of them. Its stomach was a large, round cage of what seemed to be its ribs, and stomach, empty and hollow yet disturbing. Its front "arm" fins were long, curved, and ended in the shape of crab-like claws.

The large demon snatched the smaller green piranha-like fiend within its mouth firmly. Tidus watched it squirm in helplessness, dark crimson blood quickly spreading at high amounts. The monster then tossed it away; didn't even eat it!

He really couldn't distinguish any more features of this fiend, all he knew was he was trapped. With only one possible, hopeful solution he dearly hoped would succeed…

Attack it.

So he did, he swiftly approached the large monster and brought his sword down upon its ribs many times. The monster didn't even flinch… This was the very moment he knew he was doomed. It swiftly brought its claw outward, and downward onto him, knocking him out for a few seconds. He felt extremely weak, there was no way he would be able to bring his sword down upon it even once more.

He escaped. He swimmed away at accelerating speeds, feeling the vibrations and hearing the roar from behind him as it chased him at his feet. He decided one trick he hoped would work. Hope was one of the tiny strings he could hold onto by now in this situation. He desperately attempted to make a sharp turn as he swam towards a large pillar, which was successful. He didn't dare look back, however. He only hoped…

Then he heard a loud crash. The monster must have swam right into the pillar, stunning it for a short moment. Tidus took these few extra seconds to surface the water, and frantically search for an exit somewhere, anywhere. Aha! He found one.

Now it was a race. The goal? Survival. He couldn't lose this one. The monster shook it off, and spotted Tidus once more, beginning to pick up speed as it swam after him, roaring as Tidus felt its hot hungry breath at his legs. His arms and legs flailed back and forth, desperately approaching the small entrance as he came closer, closer, closer…

He could feel… the monster's burning breath soon covering his entire body… his eyes tipped upward, and he could see the tip of the monster's mouth, right over his head; his entire body for that matter. He felt himself getting sucked in.

Until the monster mistakenly roared once more, causing Tidus and loads of water to be sprung outwards and into the cavern. Boulders fell as the monster rammed into the entrance, obviously too big, as they completely blocked off the entrance. Whether Tidus liked it or not, he was stuck here.

It was unwelcomly cold… Debris existed everywhere. Rocks, boulders, pieces of the temple that has fallen apart. Tidus sat there for a minute, breathing heavily, trying to catch up with his heart.

_I had made it out of the frying pan… and into the freezer… I thought I was going to die in this place…_

He slowly began to stand up, brushing all the little pebbles from his rear. He found himself at the bottom of the staircase. So, he began to climb…

Through all the rubble and debris blocking the broken stairway, he managed to finally make it to the top, pushing a large collection of boulders to the side at another entrance. He took slow steps, examining his complete surroundings. He, again, felt so small and insignificant… the ceiling was almost nowhere to be found. It must have been a temple. He noticed high waterfalls coming down from above, but small ones, like it was actually a leakage. Hideous statues surrounded and towered over him against the walls. Everything was dripping wet, rubbled through, and dead. Long abandoned.

Tidus shivered tightly, watching his own breath in a small cloud of mist, quickly disappearing soon after.

"Cold… need… fire…" He murmured to himself in a rather shaky voice. His body cried a desperate need for warmth as the area grew astonishingly colder, so he began out to search.

There were four entrances in the room, one being an open stairwar leading up, and the other being what he entered through. There could only be so many options to find the right tools to start a fire out of. Glancing again at the center of the circular room, he noticed what he hadn't noticed before: a dead campfire. A pile of somewhat charcoaled, burnt wood lay in the center, as if someone had been here before. But, they seemed to be slightly damp…

Tools. All he needed was something flamable, and something to start the fire. If someone had been here before, they must have used tools the temple had offered.

Tidus entered the one most obvious open room closest to his availability, and saw nothing but rubble. The stone door was leaning on closeby rubble fallen from the room's stone brick walls. Water streamed in tiny waterfalls from the broken ceiling in a consistant flow. He looked down, and noticed a small brown box slightly hidden within the rubble. Pushing the rocks and stones to the side, he looked within the box and noticed exactly what he needed.

Flint.

And it was dry, astoundingly. Quickly becoming colder, he exited the room and headed to the other door. It was rather large, forming some oddly shaped design on it, but appeared worn and rather old. He leaned his body against it, and pushed. It wouldn't budge. With all his might for several minutes, he came down to conclusion that it most certainly wouldn't budge…

Alright…

He went to the only other entrance available in hopes of finding something flamable. The open stairway. Climbing up it, he stepped over rubble and pushed stones out of his way. To his right, against the stone wall, he noticed many light fixtures with built in vases underneath him. Only within one of the vases he found an old, withered bouquet within it. Tracing his fingers along its stems and dried leaves, it cracked and sent small, dry particles fluttering to the floor. It was perfectly dry, and perfectly flamable.

Taking the two items back to the campfire, he immediately set to work.

Only several minutes later of frustration, he was relieved and startled at the same time once the fire exploded to life, crackling and sending tiny bat-like embers into the air.

He sighed.

Worn and beat, he plopped down onto the ground and sprawled out, staring high above with a relieved sigh crossing his breath.

It was until then when he realized his _next_ need.

"Ugh… I need food!" He complained to himself. Though was far too tired to get up and find anything, for he knew that would take much energy. He knew not of any type of living creature that could thrive within this abandoned temple's environment. If there was, it was nothing _he_ wanted to eat…

He began to doze off… Then, he had a dream.

-+-

"What do _you_ want?" Tidus said in frustration as he rested his hands on the back of his head.

"It was a bad call… Your team lost because of you." It was a recognizable voice… Auron?

"You came to say _that_?"

"It's been… ten years… I thought you'd be crying."

"Who, me?"

Suddenly, the recognizable yet mysterious cloaked figure appeared.

"You cried."

-+-

He slowly drifted away… or awake… he didn't know… His eyes wavered between barely open and closed… But as his conscience gathered together, his eyes widened. The light was fading.

"Hey, wait!" Tidus got up, speaking to the fire. "Wait! Don't go out on me!" He panicked. "Just hold on. I'll get more wood." He frantically looked around in all desperate hopes of finding a couple pieces of simple dry wood that would keep the fire going…

Until…

He saw something…

_Not again…_

His eyes widened with a strike of confusion and horror. Something very large clung itself upon the second level's outter railing; and it was glaring right at him. It had the shape of a very large… bug. Or something. Two long tentacles sprang out from its small head, and its body formed a bony one with four large legs ending in large scissor-like single claws. It breathed hungrily; its eyes glowed. And without another sudden move, it sprinted off at alarming speeds around Tidus, remaining upon the side of the wall, however… It circled him a few times before finally leaping off and onto the ground with a loud thud. Its claws extended.

-+-+-+-

**A/N:  
**I didn't think it'd be so quick to type up the rest of this chapter. But, this will be the last chapter for awhile that actually contains barely any dialogue. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Review, please!


	5. Foreigners

Uploaded:  
7/17/07

**A/N:  
**Wow, it took me forever to update this chapter in proportion to my previous update frequencies. I've had writer's block, and a hard time gaining interest back into Final Fantasy X. Sadly. I felt the pressure. Because I promised myself and all of you I'd finish this novelization. I got so wrapped up in other things. Boyfriend, mainly. Summer school too, sadly. I went to two Ozzfest concerts too, on July 12th and July 14th. Ozzy Osbourne. It was flippin' amazing.

Anywho… off subject, sorry. Got a concert next week, too. Linkin Park. Will get no sleep…

Finally finished this chapter. Enjoy!

A little side note:  
_Main character's thoughts_

**Disclaimer:**  
_(Refer to "1. Prologue")_

------------------  
----------------------  
Final Fantasy X  
-----------------------  
------------------

_- 5 -  
"__Foreigners__"_

-+-

_Alone…_

_Nobody here by my side_

_Maybe…_

_Maybe then no one will witness me cry_

_This foreign world has nothing for me_

_Or maybe_

…_I'm the foreigner…_

_-+-_

It was almost becoming tiring. Battle after battle, a constant struggle for survival… But he passed this idea and quickly withdrew his sword. His eyes narrowed, and he lunged at this creature. It dodged by swiftly jumping back with quick reflexes. And then, it swiped down on Tidus with its clawed arms, damaging him some.

_Damn it…_

He drank a potion, managing to keep alive while doing so. The fiend screeched annoyingly and attacked Tidus again, only this time Tidus retaliated with a dodge and then a counter attack. It went on like this for some time, clashing back and forth, sword to large claw, dodging constantly…

Tidus nearly fell over from a heart attack at the sound of a crashing explosion. Dodging large charred melting metal, he managed to squint against the sudden brightness at his right, momentarily relieved it startled the creature as well, thus was safe for a few moments. Tidus noticed it wasn't merely a bright entry way, but there were silhouettes of something_…_

People!

But… they looked funny. They had odd goggles of some sort, and funny suits. It was a group of people, rather. About four or five, all men except what seemed to be the leader in front – a young girl. Odd. He wasn't worried about studying their appearance, however. Tidus found people! He was so thankful that maybe they could help him. But the odd suits made him wonder… who were they? And it made him wonder where he _really_ is, now. A foreign world.

Suddenly, the girl approached Tidus – saying not a word – and sided him in battle. She set her battle position, facing the clawed monster.

"You on my side? Cool!" He only managed to say, wondering in mystery if she would speak in reply. No word. She took something from her bag, and tossed it at the monster as Tidus watched it come in contact with the fiend with an explosion, stunning the fiend and tossing it off balance.

_Wow… what was that?_

Tidus decided to throw another blow at the fiend, escaping just in time for the girl to toss one more explosive grenade, tossing the monster off guard once more, and this time, to the floor. It was limp… and it was dead.

Tidus sighed heavily.

"Whew, that was close." This time, he hoped the girl would reply in some form of matter. He watched her snap off the lens of her goggles, revealing her eyes. Still not a word! She glanced around quickly, seeming to be a signal of some sort because all the men rushed their way in, holding guns in their close grasp.

One of the men spoke in a harsh tone.

"Fryd ec drec?"

The man grabbed the back of Tidus' hair and held it firmly in his grasp with a grip Tidus never knew existed. Another man spoke in an alarmed, somewhat concerned tone.

"Y fiend! Eh risyh teckieca!"

"Oac! Ed ec cu!" Another man replied, also frightened.

They all cocked their guns, and pointed them directly at Tidus.

"Fa gemm ed?" One suggested.

And finally, the girl spoke up.

"Fyed! Fryd ev ed ec risyh?" To Tidus' relief, the men put down their guns.

"Drao yna dra cysa eh taydr." One man replied, looking at the girl.

"E vunpet ed! Fa pnehk ed fedr ic." She said.

He sighed heavily, feeling as if he were saved by the girl. He was entirely lost by their language, it was something he's never heard in his life. But by the looks of it, his life were in their hands. And, unfortunately, he had no idea how to communicate with them, thus, was unable to ask them for assistance.

So, was he still alone, or what…?

It seemed like it…

Suddenly, the girl approached Tidus yet closer… so close, he could feel the warmth of her breath on his neck as she whispered in his ear.

"Cunno."

He felt the sharpest, most painful blow come in contact with his stomach as he clutched it tightly and cringed in excruciating pain, falling to the ground. His vision blurred as he watched the men slowly begin to gather 'round him, towering over him. He couldn't move… He could hardly breathe with lack of air he lost from the blow. His vision faded, and soon, went black…

-+-

Fading… in and out… Tidus slowly began to gain conscienceness, and seconds later, the pain along with it.

"Ughhh…" He groaned, clutching his stomach as he sat up. He felt himself sitting upon a hard surface, somewhat cold even, and against some bars… must have been a steel railing.?The smell of the salty seawater contacted his nose. He was on a ship, and the sky was dark. Once he opened his eyes, he stared down the barrel and blades of two guns, only inches away.

"Ced, lybdeja!" One seemed to demand as he slammed the butt of the weapon into Tidus' chest. He stumbled backwards.

"Hey! That hurts, you know…"

"Hu sujehk, rayn?" One man said.

"Whoa… Okay." Tidus decided to keep away from these men, and do his best not to bother them. If it costed him his life… He didn't even know what they wanted with him. He was trapped on a ship at night in the middle of the sea. What to do?

The girl from before, followed by another man covered in simple blue flame-designed tattoos of which revealed most of his upper body, approached.

"Caynir res!" A man commanded.

"Right. Whatever." Tidus knew they wouldn't be able to understand anything he would say, thus, it wouldn't seem disrespectful to them. Nothing else seemed to have gotten through to them, anyhow.

The tattooed man scratched the back of his head, and for once seemed to speak calmly.

"Tu oui hud cbayg…?"

"I said I don't understand!" He was finally getting frustrated with these foreigners trying to speak with him and order him around when he couldn't even understand them. Again, he felt alone, even with people surrounding him. Maybe they weren't the foreigners. Maybe _he_ was the foreigner…

"Ehcumahla!" The man became aggravated.

"Fyed!" The girl finally said out loud. She then approached Tidus. "He said you can stay if you make yourself useful."

This nearly knocked Tidus out of his mind in itself. She spoke as fluently as Tidus could speak his own language.

"You…" He gasped. "You understand me?" He could feel the burden being lightened already. Finally, someone understood him! He truly wasn't alone anymore. The man nudged him again with his gun, knocking Tidus off-guard. "All right." He replied angrily. "I'll work. So_… _what am I doing?"

"Well_…_ we found some ancient ruins right beneath us! It's not active now, but there should be some power left. We're gonna go down there and activate it, and then we should be able to salvage the big prize!" The girl jumped up in excitement. "Okay! Let's get to work."

"Roger." Tidus was again highly enlightened to find someone who spoke his own language.

Once signaled, both Tidus and the girl dove into the ocean's dark depths. Tidus quickly grew accustomed to swimming within the water after playing blitzball for so many years. The only thing he had to grow used to was the saltiness of the water and the frigid temperatures. He also noticed the girl was an elegant swimmer as well. Has she played blitzball before? Or was she always diving underneath the water's surface to salvage underwater discoveries. For all he knew, they could have been a bunch of pirates.

Deeper and deeper they swam_…_ and the deeper they went, the clearer Tidus noticed the underwater ruins. It looked like a building, or just a very large ship or airship of some sort. He kept following her, deeper and deeper into the depths, closer and closer to the ancient ruins.

Entering the murky ruins through a broken barricade, they proceeded along, becoming smaller and insignificant compared to the large airship. Tidus' eyes burned from the salty water, but he managed. The ruins seemed to become eerie and completely abandoned, almost haunted. But he proceeded.

With what felt like the lengthiest distance Tidus had to swim, they finally entered the airship through a broken hole. It looked like an attack of some sort to the ship, like something blasted through it. He faded this idea, and progressed with caution. Because it was so eerie, quiet and dark underneath the deep ocean, he glanced in all of his surroundings. He felt nervous.

Gliding through small tunnels and walkways, the girl suddenly stopped in front of a sealed door. Tidus nodded to her, he knew how to work the small screen before it in order to open it. He was highly shocked to see that the screen turned on, and worked perfectly. To his surprise, it was all in English. Pressing buttons and deciphering the lock, he somehow managed to open the gate. They swam through.

Within another room lied a large machine in the center of the circular room, what looked to be the end. There, another screen Tidus quickly approached. Beginning to press the buttons on the screen, managing to work the machine as she began to assist him. They couldn't communicate underwater, thus it took several minutes before they worked it correctly, squinting their eyes as the lights began to turn on, activating the entire airship itself.

They both high fived each other, and quickly escaped the airship, boarding their own ship several minutes later.

-+-

"Fa vuiht dra airship!" One of the men exclaimed happily.

"Dra nalunct fana nekrd."

"Huf, ruf du tnyk ed ib?" Another man asked.

Just as the men began to enter their ship's cabin area, Tidus followed. But once all the men were in, one turned around and shoved Tidus back outside.

"Oui, uidceta!" He shouted.

"Hey! I helped out, didn't I?" Tidus felt like he was some experimental rodent infested with germs, only good for working but deserving no treatment the humans got. Like he belonged outside, alone…

…

………

"Ughh…" Tidus moaned, leaning on the deck with his elbow, the rest of his body rested on the ground. "Hungry…"

His elbow was suddenly kicked from underneath him, causing him to fall to the ground, but caught himself quickly enough, then sat up.

The girl stood over him, handing down a large tray full of hot food.

"Whoa! Right on!" Tidus' mood instantly enlightened, and started to wolf everything down as much and fast as he could. The girl just stood there watching him, giving off a slight humoured smirk as he gulfed the food down his throat faster than he could swallow. Just as she expected, Tidus stopped and started pounding at his chest, looking around desperately as he began to choke.

"Here." The girl offered a flask full of water for him as he moaned in desperate need for air, grabbing at it and gulping it down, managing to swallow it as he took another drink from it, clearing his throat from food. He put it down, giving a sigh of satisfaction.

"It's 'cause you eat too fast." The girl laughed.

Tidus stood up, stretching in satisfaction as he laughed in joy.

"Hey!" The girl exclaimed.

Tidus approached her and smiled.

"Hello there. What's your name?"

The girl tilted her head.

"Rikku."

Tidus jumped up in joy once more. "Haha! You really do understand!" He laughs in relief. "Why didn't you say so earlier?"

"I didn't get a chance to! Everyone thought oui were a fiend." She shrugged her shoulders.

Tidus stopped in confusion.

"Uh... 'we'?"

"Oh. 'Oui' means 'you'."

"Who are you guys, anyway…?" Tidus scratched the back of his head.

"We're Al-Bhed. Can't you tell?" Rikku stopped. "Wait, you're not an Al-Bhed hater, are you?"

Tidus shook his head in confusion.

"I don't even know what an 'Al-Bhed' is."

Rikku gave a sigh, but looked at him strangely.

"Where are you from?"

"Zanarkand. I'm a blitzball player." Tidus then stopped, and gave a gesturing kick at the air. "Star player of the Zanarkand Abes!"

"…Did you hit your head or something?"

"Um… you guys hit me?"

"Oh, right… Do you remember anything before that?" Rikku asked in curiosity.

_So I told her everything there was to tell about Zanarkand. About life there, about Sin's attack, and about how Auron and I were engulfed in this light. I just said things as they came to mind. But then I started to wonder_…

"Did I… say something funny?" Tidus looked over at Rikku as he asked her, both of them leaning on the railing looking out to sea.

"You were near Sin." She said. Tidus simply nodded, gazing down at the sea in almost a bewildered state of mind. "Don't worry. You'll get better in no time. They say your head gets funny when Sin is near. Maybe you just had some kind of dream…?" She looked over at him.

"You mean I'm sick?"

"Because of Sin's toxins, yeah."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, there is no Zanarkand anymore. Sin destroyed it a thousand years ago. So… no one playes blitzball there anymore." She explained while leaning back on the railing, facing the ship and gazing out to the sky. This left Tidus bewildered yet more. His thoughts raced to catch up. There was long moment of awkward silence.

"…Huh? What do you mean a _thousand_ years ago? But I _saw_ Sin attack Zanarkand! You're saying that happened a _thousand_ years ago? No way!"

Rikku left Tidus to think to himself about it, she wouldn't want to bewilder him anymore than he's already suffering. Thus, there were several minutes of silence. Until she asked a question…

"You say… you play blitzball?" She asked, looking over at him. Tidus was staring off into the deep dark depths of the ocean over the railing.

"Mhmm."

"You know, you should go to Luca. Someone might know who you are, or you might find someone you recognize!"

"…Luca?"

Rikku shook her head and gave a moaning sigh, bringing her palm to her forehead.

"Well… okay, leave it to me. I'll get you to Luca, promise!" she smiled to him, "I'll go tell the others." As she nearly left, she stopped and turned back to him, "Oh, and one more thing. Don't tell anyone you're from Zanarkand, okay? Yevon says it's a holy place. You might upset someone." Rikku left for the cabins.

_My Zanarkand_… _some kind of _holy_ place? Yeah right, I thought. Since when? Yevon? Sin? Luca? I thought Sin just took me to a far away place that I could go back in a day or two. But a thousand years into the future? No way_…

"No way!" Tidus shouts to himself and kicks some steel cargo on the ship, shortly afterwards falling backwards from a strong shaking of the ship. For the first few moments, he thought he activated something he shouldn't have. But two men shoved open the door and came charging out, guns in their possession.

"Sin!" One shouted.

"Sin ec lusa!"

"Ihtan ic! Ihtan ic!"

The ship swayed back and forth in a forceful vibrational movement. The first moment Tidus looked out into the ocean, waves were splashing themselves against the ship, calm waters now becoming stormless rough seas, violently shaking the ship. Panic arose everyone aboard. More Al-Bheds came out, shouting and yelling with tones of terror, what they said Tidus could not understand. He grabbed ahold of the railing's bars desperately, watching a gigantic tidal wave come splashing down onto the ship. This force let Tidus off-guard and off-balance, his grip loosening from the railing as the water caused him to slide off the ship, and into the murky dark depths of the violent, angry ocean.

He watched the ship become further away, falling back helplessly into an enormous whirlpool.

And soon… once again… everything went black…

-+-+-+-

**A/N:**

Oh god, more _Sin?!_ What's it want with Tidus? Srsly…  
I promise future updates will be more frequent! This next chapter will be fun and a breeze to write.  
Wakka's awesome. X3  
It's where the story gets interesting, now. Yes!  
Review please! If I have time to read your stories, I'll review you back!**  
**

_**UPDATES:  
**__7/16/07 – Added some description to chapter 4, "Alone in a Foreign World" when Tidus finds the flint and withered bouquet. Thanks to a critique review. I hope I described it well…_


	6. Besaid

Uploaded:  
7/18/07

**A/N:  
**Finally, some fun stuff to write. I always liked it when Tidus met up with Wakka. Anyway… I don't know if I have much to say here, except for, enjoy!

A little side note:  
_Main character's thoughts_

**Disclaimer:**  
_(Refer to "1. Prologue")_

------------------  
----------------------  
Final Fantasy X  
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_- 6 -  
"__Besaid__"_

-+-

_Again with Sin_

_What it wants with me I know not_

_But I see sunshine once more_

_Where it took me I know not_

_But I know this place has hope_

_-+-_

Fading in and out of conscienceness, Tidus unconsciencely opened his eyes, and once he gained conscienceness, he began to panic and choke, raising his face out from the shallow water. Gathering his breath, he glanced around curiously, feeling the warm sun beating down on his back and neck. It felt nice for once. Sunshine. Something he hasn't seen for a very long time.

"Rikku?" He called out.

Slam!

Tidus jerked his head forward from the force slamming into the back of his head. It bounced off, and landed on the water near him. His face lightened as he picked up the blue object in his hands.

"Blitzball!" He smiled widely as he looked around. A beach, and a group of people. One of them waved to him from far away.

"Hey! You okay?" One of the men called in a different accent. His hair was the first thing Tidus noticed. It was bright orange, the front part sticking far up, pointing up until the small tip curled back at the end. He wore a thick blue headband around his head, as well. Tidus jumped up, standing in the shallow water, waving his arm around.

"Heeey!" He happily called. These guys must have been blitzball players. He noticed all the other men practicing with their blitzballs. Maybe a blitzball team?

He hasn't held a blitzball since… since before his home was destroyed. Before Sin's first meet with him. Even then, however, Tidus did not receive the chance to finish the move he intended to win the tournament with before Sin blasted the stadium to pieces. Thus, he decided to perform that very move at this very moment. He tossed the blitzball into the air, so light in weight, and let it bounce off his forehead. He jumped up, began to do a backflip while bringing his right knee into the air in preparation for a kick, and while he was upside down, kicked the blitzball with all his power.

The ball flew and zipped passed the accented guy's head, moving just in time to dodge the ball.

"Whoa-ho…!" He looked back at Tidus, giving a surprised and highly impressed expression.

Tidus swam to the shore, approaching the men of whom were all 'ooh'ing and 'aah'ing at his former move. Tidus scratched the back of his head and smiled shyly.

"Hiya."

"You wanna… try that move… one more time?" The man, who clearly seemed to be the coach, asked. Up close, the coach was clearly much taller than Tidus.

Tidus gave a silent cheer to himself, making a "yes!" gesture.

_Finally. Things were starting to look up._

Reluctantly, Tidus took the ball, bounced it up on his head and repeated the same move with ease, sending the ball flying into the air at unlimited speeds.

"Whoa…" All the men murmured.

"You're no amateur. Who you play for?" The coach wondered.

Proudly, Tidus crossed his arms and answered, "The Zanarkand Abes."

Instantly, all the men reacted with a shocked and puzzled look on their faces as they began murmuring questions to each other quietly.

"…What team you say again?" Even the coach was puzzled. Had he heard Tidus wrong?

It was this moment when Tidus recalled what Rikku had told him. _Not to tell anyone about his connection to Zanarkand._ Boy, was he too mind-occupied with blitzball to remember.

"Uh… I mean, forget that." Tidus waved his hands. "I got too uh… close to Sin, and my head's all foggy like." His voice suddenly lowered. "So I don't know where this place is… Or even where I came from…" He lowered his head.

"Sin's toxin got to you. But, you're still alive." The coach nodded in appreciation, "Praise be to Yevon." Then, him and the rest of the men, bowed and moved their arms in some sort of way that seemed to be some form of prayer, or something. The coach turned back to the men. "All right, back to practice!" He ordered, then turned back to Tidus, offering him his hand in a man handshake. "I'm Wakka, coach and captain of the Besaid Aurochs, brudda."

Before Tidus could politely introduce himself, he clutched his stomach and gave a painful sigh, a loud growl coming from within his stomach.

"Whaat? You hungry? Okay! Back to the village. I'll get you somethin'."

Before Tidus could object to some delicious food he was offered for free, Wakka started off. Tidus wasn't sure what village Wakka was talking about, but he was glad for finally being in a positive environment without confusion. Maybe he could gather some help at this "village."

_I felt like I could trust this Wakka, so I just had to ask…_

Tidus went up to Wakka, and they both stopped.

"It's true Zanarkand was destroyed, right? A thousand years ago? So it's just a big pile of rubble now, isn't it?" Tidus sighed to himself, he was hoping Rikku was wrong. He needed to collect information from more than one person to believe them. But alas, he also wasn't sure where, or how far into the future or past Sin has once again taken him.

Wakka looked towards the sky in thought.

"Long time ago, there were a whole lot of cities in Spira. Biiig cities! With machina – machines – to run them. People played all day and let the machina do the work. And then, well, take a look." Wakka gestured towards the scenery around the beach. It was all nothing but foliage, mountainous terrain consisting of few manmade settlements. Tidus couldn't see much from where he was, but it was enough to understand.

"Sin came, and destroyed the machina cities. And Zanarkand along with 'em. Yeah, that was about a thousand years ago, just like you said." Wakka put his fist to his chin. "If you ask me, Sin's our punishment for letting things get out of hand. What gets me, though… is we gotta suffer, from what some goofballs did way back when!" Wakka looked at Tidus with a smile. "'Course, we must always repent for our sins. That's important! It's just that, it's hard to keep at it sometimes, you know?"

_It's just as Rikku said. Wakka and Rikku couldn't both be lying. Why would they?_

Wakka threw his head back and gave a heartily laugh. "But you from the Zanarkand Abes. That was a good one! Hey, I'm not saying that team never existed, ya? But you gotta figure, a team living in luxury like that'd be pretty soft, eh?"

_I appreciated the fact that Wakka was trying to cheer me up. But at the time, all I could think about was… everything that happened to me – all this – started with Sin. Maybe if I could find Sin one more time, I could go back home! For now, I'd just live life until that time comes. No more worrying about where, or when, I was._

_Sure it was hard not to think of home. But I started to feel a little better already. A little better… maybe._

Tidus noticed Wakka was gone, and quickly went after him. The two young men ran into a somewhat open, but wooded area. It was a slight fork in the path, the left side leading up somewhere, and the right side leading to a more open area with decreasing foliage. He then heard Wakka's voice.

"Hey! It's this way!"

He followed Wakk'as voice, and soon found himself standing before a ledge leading far down into a body of water. Not seeming to be a lake, or an ocean, but maybe a small, motionless river. Just a body of water flowing and weaving through and around uplifted pieces of large land.

Tidus stood over the edge, trying to figure out to himself why Wakka led him here, at a dead end.

"Huh?"

Without his notice, Wakka stealthfully slid behind Tidus, then forcefully pushed him over, himself quickly following after. Two loud splashes followed. Tidus struggled for air at the sudden action he never expected from within the water.

"Hey! What's the big idea?" Tidus complained after surfacing and shaking his head from excess water.

Wakka gives him an apologetic smirk and shrugged.

The two men swam through the water at decent speeds, although casually, and took a U-turn where the water changed direction around a promontory. This seemed to be some kind of shortcut to someplace. Tidus noticed Wakka having the same, if not at a more expertise level of swimming. He may have played blitzball longer than Tidus, but alas, Tidus impressed all the blitzers with one simple move his dad had taught him.

Out of nowhere, Wakka startled Tidus by swimming up from behind and grasping him in a headlock. Tidus struggled.

"Lemme go!"

"Got a favor to ask ya."

"You want me on your team, right?" Tidus answered casually, somewhat expected.

Wakka released Tidus. "A major blitz tournament's coming up. All the teams in Spira'll be there! It's so huge, I'm sure someone will recognize you!" Tidus solemnly floated in the water on his back, gazing up thoughtfully without expression at the blue sky above. "Then you can go back to your old team, right?" Tidus wasn't sure if Wakka was making fun of him being with Zanarkand Abes or not. "It'll be fun! What do you say, huh? C'mon, c'mon!"

Tidus replies in an almost melancholy tone, turning around on his belly and beginning to swim away.

"Sure thing."

"Dude! Our team's gonna rock, eh?"

Wakka quickly swam after him.

_So I thought then that Sin and blitzball were the only two things Zanarkand and Spira had in common. I wasn't too far off, either_…

Once surfaced onto another grounded area, both the men dried off quickly and approached the edge of a fenced cliff. To the right, there was a path leading down and into the near village clearly in view before them. It consisted mostly of tents of different styles, and one large white temple. Beyond the village and foliage lay the vast blue sea before them.

"This is where I was born. I started blitzball when I was five. I joined the Aurochs at thirteen… ten years ago." Wakka crossed his arms, gazing out into the village. "Ten years… and we never won a game. Well, after last year's tournament, I quit. Time seemed right." They both began to head down the wide dirt path. "So, after quitting, I got this new job, ya? But every time my mind wandered, I thought about the game."

"Ten years without a single win will do that to ya." Tidus replied, crossing his arms.

"My first match last year was my big chance! But something else was on my mind, I couldn't focus." Wakka shook his head in disappointment with himself.

Tidus laughed.

"Nice excuse."

"Hey, hey!"

"So you want to win the next tournament – go out with a bang."

Wakka nodded. Tidus continued.

"So, what's our goal?"

Wakka lowered his head and replied lowly. "I don't care how we do. S'long as we play our best. If we gave it our all, I can walk away happy." He looked up at him and smiled with a shrug.

Tidus shook his head violently and waved his arms around, seemingly to erase everything Wakka had just said.

"No, no, no, no, no! If I say 'What's our goal?' You say 'Victory'! When you play in a blitzball tournament, you play to win!"

Wakka looked up at Tidus as if he'd just seen something absolutely remarkable.

"Victory? You serious?" He seemed bewildered.

"Yeah, isn't that what tournaments are for?"

"Hmm…"

Before they could say anything more, two men appeared around the corner of the small downhill dirt road. One of them contained short vibrant red hair spiked up into little spikes slicked back, the other had a darker tone of skin, and had black hair tied back into a short ponytail, the sides of his head shaved bald.

"Ah, the one from the sea!" the red-haired man exclaimed.

"Be on guard." the darker skinned man warned, "there're fiends on the road today."

"After surviving your run-in with Sin, 'twould be a shame if something were to happen now."

Before either Wakka and Tidus could respond, the two men left. Tidus scratched the back of his head in silence for a moment.

"Who were they?"

"Luzzu and Gatta. Crusaders." Wakka replied.

"Crews of what?"

Wakka sighed.

"What, you forgot that, too?" Tidus lowered his head shamefully and slightly embarrassed at Wakka's response. There was a short moment of awkward silence between the two. "Hey, sorry…" He patted Tidus on the back, "Don't worry. I'll help ya out."

"In return, come tournament time, I'll make sure we take the cup!" Tidus promised.

"Cool. About the Crusaders, you can ask them yourself. They've got a lodge in the village."

Proceeding along the path, they continued around the corner and further for several yards until the village existed right before them, the temple seeming to be much larger now that they're within the village. Wakka slapped a hand on Tidus' shoulder.

"Besaid Village!"

Tidus cringed as he held his stomach once more.

"They got any food there?"

"We'll get you something over there, later." Wakka pointed out a tent on the right side. "Take a look around first. Let's see… The Crusaders' Lodge is over yonder. Luzzu and Gatta are usually there." He explained, before his eyes widened, "Oh, right. Over here!" He whispered, and snuck behind a tent, gesturing Tidus to follow.

"Huh? What's up?"

"You do remember the prayer, right?"

Tidus thought for a moment, and looked down in silence.

_I didn't know it in the first place, to tell you the truth_…

"Man, that's like the basics of the basics. All right, I'll show you." Wakka offered with a smile. He began by standing up straight and still, then spread his arms straight out horizontally at his sides, then swung them over to meet together in front of him, one over the other, his hands acting as if they were holding an invisible ball against his chest, one hand covering the top of the ball, and the other holding it from underneath. Wakka then bowed lowly, and looked up at Tidus.

"Go ahead. You try."

"Hmm… hm…" Tidus stood up straight, almost hesitantly, and brought his arms out. Then brought them up against his chest, forming the same invisible ball Wakka had previously demonstrated. He looked up at Wakka.

"Hey, not bad." Wakka complimented, then walked passed Tidus, placing a hand on his shoulder while Tidus still held that invisible ball within his palms. "Okay, now, go present yourself to the temple summoner." Wakka lastly said, then walked off into the village.

Tidus knew he recognized this prayer somewhere before. Could it have been sometime in Zanarkand? He was unsure… Sin's toxin must have really gotten to him. Because he felt as if it was common sense to him, yet he was just learning it. Holding his hands in the same position, he peeked around the tent, and looked through the "ball" in his hands into the village as if it were a telescope. He tried to remember, but could not…

And then, it suddenly flowed back to him. His memory was recovered.

_Any blitzball player would know that prayer. It was the blitzball sign for victory._

Tidus smiled to himself and shrugged it off. He was finally gaining his old self back. But he figured it would be a very long time before his mind would be fully recovered, before he would find out what happened to Zanarkand, and about Sin. Everything…

He set off to the tent Wakka had earlier pointed out, and shortly arrived. The entire village consisted only of few tents, thus was a very small village. He pushed the tent's cloth door out of the way, and noticed two familiar faces. The red haired man sat upon a large barrel, and the darker skinned man sat in a chair. They must have been conversing an issue before Tidus walked in, interrupting them. They both looked over.

"Hey, you!" The darker guy exclaimed, "You were the one attacked by Sin, right? Recently, was it?" He seemed curiously persistant.

"I think so." Tidus scratched the back of his head.

"So, Sin can't be far, right?" The man suggested. He gave Tidus an eye after hearing even a few moments' hesitation coming from Tidus, "You're not hiding anything, are you?"

"Why would I?"

The red-haired man spoke up, in a deeper tone than the other man's.

"If Sin's nearby, it'll attack the island for sure. But it hasn't yet. I wonder why…"

"I'm sorry." Tidus apologized, "I really don't know anything. To tell you the truth," he started, "I don't even know what the Crusaders are."

"You're kidding, right?" The darker man widened his eyes in confusion.

"Sin!" The other man exclaimed in a sudden rhaspy voice, "The toxin! Gatta, tell him who we are."

The apparent "Gatta" instantly stood up from his seat.

"Yes, sir!" he crossed his arm across his chest near his heart in an honoralbe speech, "The Crusaders are sworn to battle Sin! We have chapters throughout Spira, accepting all who wish to join our struggle. The hero Mi'ihen formed the Crusaders eight hundred years ago as the Crimson Blades. Later, our ranks grew and we called ourselves the Crusaders. We've been fighting Sin ever since!"

"What?" Tidus was shocked. "You've been fighting for eight hundred years and still haven't beaten Sin?"

Gatta seemed speechless, struggling for an answer.

"Well," the other man, who went by the name of Luzzu, started, "We've steered Sin away from towns many times. And that's all we can do. Nobody's ever been able to defeat it. Our mission as Crusaders is to protect the towns, temples, and people of Spira."

Tidus crossed his arms. "So then who's job is it to defeat Sin?"

"Is Sin's toxin really this bad, sir?" Gatta asked Luzzu.

"It does seem rather bad…" Luzzu faced Tidus, "We could just tell you, but I think it's better for you to try and remember. Go pray at the temple. Perhaps Yevon will help you regain your memory."

Several minutes later, Tidus wanders off into the village and sets off to the temple, which really wasn't far. He got the feeling by now that Yevon was some kind of religion if they thought Zanarkand to be some kind of holy place, and if he was asked to pray at this temple. But the way the people spoke, it sounded like Yevon was a person, or a thing. Tidus contained no idea or any knowledge of this "Yevon", but he was hoping to find some answers soon.

Several people were out in the village during this sunny afternoon, either playing with their kids and dogs or hanging out clothes to dry. Either way they all seemed to have a smile on their faces. Even with Sin around, these people still found the strength to smile. Amazing, Tidus thought to himself…

He walked up the few steps, and proceeded down the outside corriders, until finally he entered the dark entrance.

It took him a moment for his eyes to adjust to the dimness of the inside in comparison to the bright sun outside. It left him gasping to himself, looking up all around him. The ceilings were far up, rounded to the very top, paintings and ancient drawings covering the ceiling. There were large statues evenly spaced along the slightly rounded walls with people knelt down before them, bowing down every once in awhile for them, performing the same prayer Wakka had taught him moments earlier.

Straight ahead, there was a small staircase leading up to an unknown area, priests and larger statues protecting the stairs as if it were forbidden. Beside the entrance of the staircase were lit two torches of fire, seeming to be the only source of light to light the temple. One particular one-eyed, odd looking symbol repeated its appearance on many of the statues and paintings. It was possibly the symbol of Yevon.

_It was then, standing in that place. I began to realize how different this world was from my own._

Unknowingly, Tidus found himself walking up to the largest, most sigificant statue residing beside the staircase. One of the priests seemed to notice this.

"Ten years have passed since Lord Braska became high summoner. And finally we receive a statue for our temple…"

Tidus needed to ask. Luzzu said "Yevon" would help him regain his memory. He would start off with questions. To others, they were unthinkable common sense questions. But he knew nothing of Spira, or Sin, or Yevon. Anything. Nothing.

"What's a… high summoner?" He hesitated to ask. It then seemed to him like everything stopped. Which, it probably did. Everyone in the temple looked over with a gasp, a hand covering their mouth. It was as if going into a church and asking, "Who's Jesus Christ?" …Maybe. He pretended to brush it off. "I… I got to close to Sin's, uh… toxin."

_It was funny hearing myself make the same excuse over and over again. Funny_… _and a little sad._

"The summoners are practitioners of a sacred art, sworn to protect the people of Yevon. Only a chosen few become summoners, who call forth great entities of power: the aeons. The aeons hear our prayers and come down to us. They are the blessing of Yevon."

_So what he meant_… _was that we should respect some kinda great men or something like that._

It wasn't long before Tidus' stomach could take no longer, and returned to search for Wakka. After finding him in one of the six tents, he gave Wakka a look that said he was simply starving. Wakka was sitting down in front of a fire, cooking food at the same time, preparing it.

"Sorry man. No time for lunch yet." he shrugged in apology, "Take a nap, you looked bushed." It was probably true, Tidus did in fact have a long, exhausting day. And night before, even.

"Thanks…" Tidus replied, and set himself down on the raggly sofa nearby. It wasn't the most comfortable piece of furniture in the world, but he could sleep on anything and still sleep well right now.

He could barely fall asleep moments afterwards, but was drifting in and out of conscienceness. He was nearly asleep, but not quite. His mind was slightly aware of his surroundings, currently. He heard a presence walk in. The voice was… recognizable. The priest from the temple…?

"You could at least go see how they are doing." He suggested quietly.

Wakka stood up.

"We can't interfere, it's a rule!"

Both the men seemed to exit the tent, the priest's voice fading as they walked out, "But, it's been nearly…"

And then… Tidus fell deep into a dream.

"But, it's been nearly…" a man's voice, "It's been nearly a day already."

"Perhaps you could go look for us." a woman's voice suggested, somewhat worried.

"People are searching for him now." another man's voice.

"Thank you…" the woman's voice sighed with relief.

"Who cares whether he comes back or not?" a very young boy's voice protested.

"But he might die!"

"Fine! Let him!" the boy cried again hatefully.

"Do you… do you hate him so…?" the woman asked, afraid.

The young boy nodded.

"But if he dies, you'll never be able to tell him how much you hate him."

It was then when Tidus realized that the boy's voice… was his own. A flashback dream of his younger years…

…

…

………

……

Conscience faded in and out once again, and Tidus instantly woke up. He sat there for a minute, staring into nothingness, recollecting the flashback dream as he also tried to recall where he was, and what was going on. He shook it off, and got up. As he looked around, he found Wakka nowhere in sight.

"Wakka?"

So he exited the tent. The bright sun contacted his eyes and caused him to squint, but he did notice the sun was much lower in the sky than before. How long had he slept?

At a decent speed, Tidus ran towards the temple, entering it. He noticed there were many people, including Wakka, gathered at the bottom of the staircase around the priest. This instantly made him curious.

"Is something wrong?"

"The summoner hasn't returned from the trial." Wakka answered.

"Eh?" Tidus scratched his head.

"Well, apprentice summoner, really…"

"Ah?"

Wakka sighed.

"There's a room in there called the Cloister of Trials. Beyond is where the apprentice summoner prays. If the prayer is heard, the apprentice becomes a full-fledge summoner, remember?"

Tidus tilted his head slightly. "So someone is in there somewhere and they haven't come back out. Right, I got it."

"A day's already gone by…" Wakka glanced up once more at the top of the staircase in curious wonder, afraid for this summoner's status.

"Is it particular dangerous in there?" Tidus wondered.

"Sometimes, yes."

"Why don't you go in and help?"

"There's already guardians in there. Besides, it's forbidden!" Wakka explains.

Tidus budged through the people and ran up the stairs, stopping mid-way and turning around.

"Hey! But what if something happens?" Tidus grew angry, "What if the summoner… dies?!"

"The precepts must be obeyed!" The priest cried out, holding up his hand as a signal to tell Tidus to stop where he was going.

"Like I care!" Tidus hollered as he turned and ran off into the entrance. Everyone in the temple gasped in horror at this betrayal of Yevon Tidus brought.

_Maybe_…

_Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all…_

-+-+-+-

**A/N:  
**As things begin to brighten up with Tidus, how long will it last? And who's this summoner he keeps hearing about? Some old geezer, yes. Maybe. No? Who knows. I'm hoping my pace will be picked up pretty quickly now. Sorry I haven't encountered any fiends yet. I plan on doing so in the next chapter! Finally, some action, you say… yay. I won't be encountering an extended amount of enemies in the game unless 1. it's been forever since they've fought enemies, or 2. the mini-bosses or big bosses have a significant role in the story-line. Or if I just want to.  
Look forward to chapter 7. I'm making more progress than I ever have on my other FanFiction stories. I'm proud of myself…

Review, please! If I have time to, I'll read and review one of your stories, too!


	7. A Summoner is Born

Uploaded:  
10/19/07

**A/N:  
**I'm sorry, I've once again broke my promise and strayed from this story as far as interest goes. Also, I've started school, so I've little time to work on the story as desired.  
As a SECOND reminder, I WON'T be encountering all mini-bosses. ONLY battles that, in some way, affect the storyline. For instance, Seymour battles. And sinspawns. 

Oh! PLEASE READ THIS NOTE. I _won't_ be adding Cloister of Trials. I'm very sorry. But unless a lot of readers protest, I honestly think it'll be somewhat boring to read "n he placed the ball in this slot, and took the other ball out of the other slot, and the door opened!!!11 omg!" o.o;  
So, I'll simply make it some form of maze or something Tidus just passes through. Or maybe even nothing at all.

A little side note:  
_Main character's thoughts_

**Disclaimer:**  
_(Refer to "1. Prologue")_

------------------  
----------------------  
Final Fantasy X  
----------------------  
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_- 7 -  
"__A Summoner is Born__"_

-+-

_These summoners…  
Not someone one would think of  
Yet they hold this mysterious power  
One only Sin could understand…_

_-+-_

The door closed behind him, and he was now on his own. He heard no one coming after him. Even though he struck against their rules and regulations of this "Yevon", they let him go, because if they went after him, they'd be disobeying as well. Hm. Oh well…

There was an eerie quiet sound, but in the distance Tidus could hear a sort of hymn playing softly. It was almost spine-shivering. It was also a language he could not understand, and it was most certainly not Al-Bhed. It sounded almost ancient… Yes, this was a bad idea. But he would rather help this "summoner" than be a coward and turn back. Oh yes, very much so.

Tidus proceeded down the empty, chilling corridor of which was rather small. Many more symbols appeared on the ancient stone walls, most of which were the same circular one-eyed symbol he'd seen back in the temple's main room. He wasn't sure what they meant, but he wasn't sure he wanted to know. Not unless he'd have to be involved with this summoner business. Wakka seemed involved, and Wakka was Tidus' only partner in this world, so he really had no choice.

He came to a circular dead end, then heard a voice.

"Hey! What's gotten into you?" It was somewhat firm, but curious. It was Wakka.

Tidus lowered his head, and Wakka put a hand on his shoulder in assurance.

"Hey, it's okay. Only summoners, apprentice summoners, and their guardians can enter here. It's a tradition. Very important."

Tidus looked up at Wakka with confusion.

"What about you?"

"Me? I'm a guardian."

"A guardian…?"

Before Wakka answered, the circular red platform beneath them at the dead end lowered like an elevator.

"Summoners go on a pilgrimage to pray at every temple in Spira. Guardians protect them. The guardians that are in there now… well, one of them's got a short fuse, and who knows what the other is thinking!" Wakka smiled, "Well, now that we've come this far, might as well go all the way!"

The elevating platform came to a sudden halt, throwing Tidus off balance. Enormous pink leaves, nearly transparent, opened the pathway to another of the temple's rooms. This must have been the room where the summoner was praying…

It looked very similar to the first room, only a bit smaller. There was yet another staircase with more large pink leaves guarding the entrance as well as some rather odd figures.

One of them was a beautiful, but gothicly dressed, young woman. Her dress revealed a bit too much cleavage, Tidus noticed first thing. However, the front of the dress where it opened covered her legs with massive amounts of leather belts criss-crossing each other to complete the front side. Long sleeves and long black hair completed her appearance, her hair tied up into a high ponytail with two decorative sticks, her extremely long hair braided into a number of small strands down her back.

The other startled Tidus a bit. It was a large blue beast, its face similar to a lion's. Its shocking yellow beady eyes showed no emotion, but stood there, tall and very well built, arms crossed. Tidus noticed a horn on his forehead, though it looked like it was sawed off…

"What are you doing here?" The woman approached Wakka sternly, "Didn't think we were able to handle it?"

"No, it's uh… it's just…" Wakka sighed, and turned to Tidus saying lowly, "See, I told you she gets mad easy…"

Tidus felt pressured, he knew he wasn't supposed to be there. It was all his fault.

The beast looked over at Tidus, and stared at him with his beady glowing eyes, though Tidus wasn't sure if it was angry or neutral. It didn't do anything else. Tidus shook the pressure off and gathered to courage to ask what his purpose here was.

"Is the summoner all right?"

The woman glanced at Tidus, and stared at him for a moment. She seemed somewhat settled down, a little surprised. Her voice seemed more curious than angry, Tidus having not a clue why.

"…Who are you?"

Before Tidus could respond, they all heard a stone door rise. Their attention quickly turned to the stairway, and all was silent.

A bright light emitted from the entrance where the leaves parted, and there, atop the staircase, stood the most beautiful young woman Tidus has ever seen. Her legs were hidden under a long deep purple skirt adorned with graceful designs of vines and white flowers shaped similar to little stars all along the lower left area. Her torso wore a white top covering mostly her waist and chest, though the cloth criss-cross around her neck, along with a very large golden waist band covering her entire waist also adorned with several red and light green, almost faded, designs.

Long pieces of square cloth hung from her elbows, acting like arm warmers from her hands to her elbows. The cloth faded from an ivory white to a warm pink at the bottom of the cloth that hung from her arms. Last but not least, her brown hair hung to merely her shoulders, small strands of bangs brushed to the side.

The young girl looked weary, struggling to merely keep balance as she stepped forth into view. They all stared silently with wonder, especially Tidus. As soon as she took one step down, her eyes closed and her body slowly began to fall forward.

Everyone gasped, horrified.

With a worried growl, the beast raced up the steps and caught the girl in his arms before she could fall off her feet.

Carefully, the beast let her go as she slowly stood up, catching her balance and posture.

Tidus continued to stare in amazement.

The beast growled in satisfaction of her safety and stood up, becoming at least a foot or two taller than the normal-sized girl. She brushed herself off, then carefully flipped her hair back as she opened her eyes and smiled to the watching, waiting guardians below. The first thing Tidus noticed was her eyes. Her left one was blue and her right one was green.

"I've done it… I have… become a summoner!" She said with a naturally gentle voice.

_Man was I surprised_… _And here I thought summoners were all old geezers_…

In the temple's front main room, everyone greeted the female summoner and her guardians as they came down the steps. Most of the older ones bowed in the prayer motion, and many youngsters hopped up and down in joy. She smiled, and bowed thankfully, seeming to be very grateful for their support and joy of her passing the test to become a summoner. Once finished, the guardians then led her and everyone else outside, like something else was up. Tidus followed.

Everyone in the village stood around the village's center circle on the ground, waiting curiously and anxiously. Tidus couldn't see much through the crowd, but he heard Wakka's voice.

"Hey! Over here!"

So he followed, stepping down the steps of the temple and approaching the crowd curiously. Wakka grabbed Tidus in a headlock. "W-What? Ow, ow!"

"Wait 'till you see this." Wakka said excitedly.

"I… I can't see anything!" Tidus complained, then broke free of Wakka's strong arm hold. He found himself in front of the small crowd with perfect view. The female summoner stood in the center, holding a very long staff with a large circular design at the head, encasing a small crystal orb in the center.

"We're ready whenever you are!" Wakka said.

The girl nodded. "Okay…" Her voice was soft; it was hard to hear her words.

Everyone grew quiet. The girl held her delicately decorated staff perfectly motionless in front of her, vertically. She then twirled it, revolving it before her, slowing it to a slow stop then brought it above her, twirling and handling it so gracefully one would think she was an angel. Tidus watched with silent curiosity. He was captivated by her slow graceful, yet non-human movements. It seemed too perfect, that not even a professional dancer could perform.

She then halted herself to a stop, grazing her staff out in front of her, towards the sky. A flash of light blinded the audience, for only a moment while the girl raised her staff into the sky, releasing a powerful form of energy that seemed to part the clouds slightly. A flash of light appeared from the sky, before a small red form made its way passed the clouds. Tidus squinted against the bright afternoon sun.

The figure… was not at all small, the closer it approached at full speed. It seemed to be a rather large bird-like figure, almost a dragon, flying in circles down to earth. Its wings were awkwardly shaped, carrying a purple outer edge with tan-like wings. Its head was grey, and rather small, with small pupil-less eyes. Its neck was long, and adorned with red pointy scales protruding from its skin, making it look like a porcupine's hide only with thicker needles. Its small, thin body and long, swaying tail was purple, as was its feet.

The creature flapped its wings majestically as it landed carefully at the ground in front of the summoner. Its low gentle growl was heard as the girl graced her hand over its head. The beast lowered its head, the low growl acting as a purr of satisfaction.

Everyone gasps in brilliant wonder, a mysterious curiosity and captivation they've never seen before. None of the civilians ran away, or screamed from the beast, even though it was about the size of a horse and a half. Tidus had no words to say. He simply stared with wonder, but without a surprised or horrific expression. He merely stood there, pondering, wondering about this mysterious beast…

_I had never seen anything like it in my life… Sure, it was a little scary, but still… I could feel a strange kind of gentleness coming from it…_

The beast flew away, and everyone began to slowly and kindly crowd the summoner to congratulate her on her successful yet magnificent performance. Apparently, nobody had ever seen anything like it either. Tidus wasn't the only one, then…

_I remember… That night, we talked for the first time… I didn't know it then, but after that night, everything changed… For everyone… For me…_

The night sky was adorned with twinkling stars, and the center of the village where the girl previously summoned the monster, there lay a large campfire. Various villagers carried conversations quietly amongst themselves around the fire, some even resting silently and peacefully. Everyone seemed to be calm for a reason Tidus was unfamiliar with. They seemed much more at ease than before, though they were always peaceful, but Tidus noticed a difference in the human atmosphere in the village… Did everyone know something he did not?

"Yo." Wakka's voice interrupted Tidus' thoughts. "Let me introduce you to the team." Wakka dragged him over to a crowd of similar dressed men, all standing beside each other like they were in the military. Wakka turned to his teammates. "This guy wanted in the tournament so bad, I let him on the team. His memory's a little fuzzy, so don't mind him if he says anything odd." Wakka pushed Tidus forward. "Go on, say hi!"

Tidus seemed a little confused, scratching the back of his head. But he hesitantly managed to spit out a few words.

"Um…" He mumbled shyly. "Hi guys."

The teammates all murmured a collaborated "hello" and various other greetings.

"So, what's our goal?" Tidus asked them enthusiastically.

"To do our best!" They all shouted with deep, manly voices.

"Nope, we got a new goal this time!" Wakka smiled. "Our goal is… victory! To win every match, defeat every opposing team! To bring the Crystal Cup back to our island! That's all we need to do to win! Easy, ya?"

The teammates mumbled to each other with confusion, as if they had seen something for the first time in their lives that took an interest to them. They all murmured "victory" to each other with hesitation and question of realization. Then, they all began to chant loudly, throwing their fists into the air.

"Vic-to-ry! Vic-to-ry! Vic-to-ry! Yeaaaaahhh!!"

Tidus looked around the campfire, and noticed the female summoner sitting with a small group of villagers, from old to very young, seeming to speak kindly and converse calmly with the other citizens. He noticed more than anybody the summoner, seeming so perfect and gentle… he's never seen anyone like her before. Something about her captivated her. Hesitantly, he approached the small group of seated people, until an old man glared up at him.

"You heathen!"

"Stay away from the summoner!" an old woman demanded in a wavering, old voice.

"You're a bad man." A little girl said.

The summoner stood up from her seat, and the old man looked up at her with worry.

"Lady Yuna, be careful…"

"But it was really my fault to begin with…" she said with a soft voice, as usual. She turned to Tidus and smiled, "I'm Yuna. Thank you so much for your help earlier."

"I'm sorry about that. Wasn't that… wasn't I not supposed to… Guess I kind of… overreacted…" Tidus commented shamefully, and rather bashfully as he scratched the back of his head with embarrassment.

"Oh, no." Yuna shook her head. "I was… overconfident."

"Um…" Tidus tried to change subject. "I saw that aeon thing. That was amazing!"

Yuna's face brightened.

"Really? Do you think I can become a high summoner?"

Before Tidus could respond, a little girl came running up and tugged on Yuna's ankle-low skirt.

"Lady Yuna! Come play with me some more!" Yuna then knelt over, and nodded kindly to the little girl. The girl then ran back to the campfire.

"So, tomorrow, then."

"Tomorrow?"

"We're going on the same boat, aren't we? We can talk more. You can tell me all about Zanarkand!" She smiled, and bowed a goodbye to him, then gently graced back to the crackling, bright warm campfire. The setting fit for Tidus. Calm, night when the stars were out, warm and yet bright… His head spinned.

"She's cute, ya?" Tidus needn't to turn around to know Wakka stood right behind him, playfully slapping Tidus' shoulder.

Tidus' face flushed pink. But with the campfire, he didn't think anyone would notice. He wasn't sure if the heat on his face was the campfire or his face flushing of color.

"Don't get no ideas. Oh, if you're tired, let me know. Most of the people are heading for bed, there's a bed made for you in the tent over there."

"Eh, why not." were Tidus' last words before he headed for the tent, and crawled into bed without pulling the sheets over him. He laid there, resting his hands behind his head, staring at the tent's roof, thinking about everything that had happened that day. Washing ashore and meeting Wakka, venturing around until they arrived at Besaid, meeting everyone he met, but the only one that seemed significant enough to captivate him was this "Lady Yuna"… Hmph. He knew he needed to get to know her…

…

………

……

Zzzz…

……

"Where's that boat?" Tidus said with frustration.

"Everyone will find us if it doesn't come soon." Yuna said with a hint of panic.

They both stood upon a dock in a misty, foggy afternoon, the majestic ocean laying before them, the horizon blurred into the sky from the thick fog.

Tidus looked over at Yuna, a show of discomfort clear on his face.

"You really sure this is okay?"

"Hey!" Another female voice was recognized, appearing behind them on the dock. "You said you'd go with me!"

"Oh, hey… I, uh… I…" Tidus stuttered.

"I thought Wakka told you to not get any ideas?" Rikku placed a hand at her hip.

"He did?" Yuna seemed puzzled.

"Yeah, so you're comin' with me!"

"Hey! Stop dreaming!" A sudden burst of a deep, rough male's voice rumbled from behind, on the land.

It was Jecht.

"_You_ with a woman? You can't even catch a ball!"

Tidus lowered his head in shame. He was younger, now. A boy.

"Oh, what's the matter? Gonna cry again? Cry, cry." He mocked. "That's the only thing you're good for!"

"… I hate you…" Tidus mumbled quietly to himself.

"Huh?" Jecht held a hand to his ear, incapable of hearing what Tidus said.

"You have to speak loudly." Yuna advised confidently.

"I hate you!"

"That's the spirit!" Rikku praised cheerfully with an arm in the air.

…

…

"I hate you!" Tidus cried out loud, springing forward in his bed.

A soft, distant female voice was heard.

"He's dead, okay? Dead." Only, it was not as innocently soft as Yuna's. It must have been Lulu, one of the guardians Wakka introduced Tidus to back in the Besaid temple.

Tidus sighed to himself, his conscious slowly beginning to realize it was just a dream. Curiously, he wanted to know what was going on. Thus, he got out of bed and cautiously approached the tent's curtain entrance, parting the door just a bit so he could see. It was Wakka and Lulu. The sound of crickets were heard all around, and all but their voices, was silent. Lulu didn't look pleased.

"He does look a lot like Chappu. I was surprised, too, when I first saw him." Tidus squinted slightly, wondering if she was talking about him. "But no matter what he looks like, he isn't Chappu. You shouldn't have brought him here in the first place!"

Tidus' eyes narrowed.

"Yeah, but… he needed our help."

"Excuses again?" Lulu said sharply.

"Yeah, but…" Wakka spoke hesitantly, stuttering nervously as he held his hand at the back of his head, looking down shamefully.

"That's it. No more. Enough, Wakka!" She snarled, then turned and walked away. Wakka stood there, left alone silently in shame. And even a little guilt. He began to head towards the tent, and Tidus backed away to give Wakka room to enter.

"Scary." Tidus commented, doubting Wakka would care whether he spied on their conversation or not. Wakka sat down on the edge of the bed opposite of Tidus. "So, who's Chappu?"

Wakka sighed.

"My little brother. He looks a lot like you."

"He's dead?"

"He was with the Crusaders when they fought Sin last year. He didn't make it. I first heard on the day of the tournament."

"Oh, so that's why." It was then when Tidus realized what Wakka meant when he said he couldn't focus on the game, he had other things on his mind. He felt bad for teasing him about making an excuse… terrible, in fact. He knew how hard it must have been for Wakka. He can't say he had a personal experience of one's death, since his father hadn't really been close to him… like a father. But then again… he wasn't even sure if Jecht was dead.

"I became a guardian to fight Sin, ya?"

"Revenge, then."

"That was the idea. I'm more worried about a stupid game now than avenging my brother." Wakka gave himself a scold. "Well, after the next tournament, I'll be a guardian full-time. I know it looks kinda like I'm using you…" Wakka lowered his head. "But I'm not."

Tidus got up from the edge of the bed.

"Don't worry." He gave a gentle slap on Wakka's shoulder. "I mean, I owe you a lot. You really helped me out, you know? I guess what I mean is… thanks, Wakka."

Wakka smiled to himself, but tried to hide it. He covered his face with his arm, and he blushed. He's never really been praised before.

"Stop, you're embarrassing me!" he complained. Tidus chuckled.

-+-

_The next morning outside the temple…_

"Hey!" Wakka called. "Sleepyhead! Something I want to give ya!"

Confused, Tidus walked over to few of the awaiting company readying themselves to depart. Lulu, Wakka, and the large blue beast. He was always silent, it intimidated Tidus' curiosity. Once approached, Wakka pulled out a long, crystal-like bright blue shimmering sword from behind his back. It was delicately designs to make it look legendary, even. Its unique curves and shape at the tip completed the beautiful beast of elegancy.

"Whoa!" Tidus gasped. He carefully took the sword within his thirsty grasp. "You're giving this… to me?"

"Yeah, use it well."

Lulu, her face expressionless, turned to Wakka. "That's the sword you gave Chappu…"

"Well, he never used it. Where's Yuna?" he was quick to change subject.

Tidus was impatient.

"We're taking the same boat as Yuna, right? Why do we gotta wait here?"

"Yuna came to this village ten years ago, when the last Calm started." Wakka started.

"The 'Calm'?"

"Since then, she's been like a little sister to me and Lulu. But she had the talent… She became an apprentice. Today, she leaves as a summoner."

"This is our journey." Lulu said. "We should leave together."

From the village's temple entrance, there appeared Lady Yuna dragging a couple large, heavy brown suitcases with struggle. She then stopped to rest. Lulu raised an eyebrow. Everyone's eyes turned to face the temple.

"You really don't need all that luggage, dear."

Yuna panted, and hesitantly managed to say, "They're not really my things. They're gifts to the temples we are to visit."

"This isn't a vacation, Yuna." Wakka added.

Yuna sighed, and looked down.

"I guess… I guess you're right…" she said lowly, as if to herself, then began heading down the steps, leaving the luggage behind.

"Okay! Off we go!" Wakka said.

The members stopped at the top of the hill, where all Besaid, and the ocean and forests beyond could be viewed beautifully. Where Wakka and Tidus had first met up with the Crusaders just before entering the village. A large statue stood at the top of the hill, bright and tall. Everyone stopped, but Tidus didn't know why.

Yuna approached the statue.

"Take your time." Lulu assured gently. Yuna came down to her knees and bowed her head slowly in front of the statue, performing the prayer Wakka had taught Tidus earlier. Several moments passed quietly, the cool breeze making the only soft sound.

"We're gonna wait." Wakka said to Tidus, then turned to Yuna. "Are you ready?"

Yuna nods. Wakka then approaches the statue, then Lulu, and they do the same thing. Tidus looked around.

"What's going on?"

"It's an ancient custom." Wakka explained, his voice slightly lower than usual as he prayed. "People leaving the island pray here for a safe trip. Chappu didn't pray that day. Said he'd miss the boat…" Wakka sighed to himself, then became quiet. Several moments of silent praying passed, even Tidus joined in.

Then Wakka stood up.

"Well, that should do it!" he stretched. Everyone stood to their feet, silently recovering from their silent, powerful devotion to their request for a safe trip.

Without a word, they moved on, leaving Tidus a few steps behind as he silently followed.

It was some time of traveling through the open tropical setting, crossing a few bridges right beside an enormous waterfall, capturing Tidus' attention quite well as he stared, dumbfounded as he walked, at the beauty of his surroundings. This world was excruciatingly different from his own, but he was not sure whether he actually _enjoyed_ it here, or simply wanted to go _home…_

Home… to what? He had no family or friends back in Zanarkand… Sure, he had thousands of fans, but he would much rather have people who wanted to know him for who he _is_, rather than what he _does_. He couldn't make conclusions yet, though. Right now, he's just a tag-along because he had nowhere else to go, and Wakka kindly took him under his wing, helping him out this way and that. Hopefully, they wouldn't kick him out, or decide he can no longer stay with the group. They all seemed to be going on a very important journey, to fight Sin, to bring happiness to the world.

They were courageous enough to risk their lives, but Tidus would be risking his life either way. He had to choose between shelter, friends and food, or spending his days without those necessities while _looking_ for shelter, friends and food. He chose the first…

When Tidus looked up, snapped from his thoughts, he saw no one. Had he taken the wrong turn while he was deeply lost in thought? Was he really that stupid to daze off like that?

Before he could comprehend a solution to what may have happened, and where they were, he heard a rustle, and then a crack. There were several decent sized pillars and pieces of a stronghold, seemingly in ruins now, right above him. A mere structure of some sort, covered in vines and moss, signifying its possible age.

Another crack was heard, then the snap of a couple of twigs. He looked up, and gasped, nearly falling on his rear at the sight of a large blue muscular creature pouncing from pillar to pillar, finally landing with a loud, deep thud on the ground before Tidus. It was about the size of Tidus, only a couple head-sizes taller, and much, much more built for battle. He stared in disbelief.

Because he recognized the creature. It grinded its teeth together furiously, slowly standing up on its hind legs perfectly as a human would, then let out a ferocious, breath-taking growling roar. It was right then when Tidus noticed it was carrying a spear.

It was one of Yuna's guardians; the silent one back in Besaid. Tidus was too oblivious to notice the silent beast came along as well. Its enormous mass towered Tidus as it leaped into the air and brought down its spear, puncturing the ground as if it were butter an instant before Tidus moved out of the way, gasping in horror.

Instinctively, he brought out his new sword, and took a leaping counter strike at the beast, but it had better dodging skills than its huge body mass was given credit for. It was a long game of counter-attacking and swift dodging, back and forth under the ruined structure. Loud "clanks" filled the air as their weapons collided.

And all in an instant, Tidus' dodge was a split second too slow, as the spear skinned the side of his shoulder, enough to cause bleeding but not enough to need any aided attention. He cringed and fell to his knees, holding his shoulder as the stinging sensation burned his skin, shutting his eyes tight.

The beast walked up to him victoriously, close enough so Tidus could see the beast's toes right in front of him, and brought up his spear for a final—

"That's enough!"

The group approached, Wakka's voice irritated. The beast faced the group, planting his spear beside him as he held a formal stance, as if he were a guard for a castle.

Tidus stood up, still holding his minor wound, fighting to hold back another cringe.

"What's with that guy?" Tidus asked curiously and rather irritated.

"Kimahri Ronso," Lulu responded, "of the Ronso tribe. He's learned the fiends' way of fighting."

Tidus rolled his eyes.

"That's… not what I meant."

"He's another of Yuna's guardians." Wakka added. It was then when Tidus spotted Yuna walking towards them, a cute smile crossing her face.

"Sometimes we don't understand him either. Kimahri doesn't talk much anyway." She sighed, then giggled softly. "But he has protected me since I was a child."

"All right, well, let's get going…" Wakka interrupted, again with the irritation within his voice. Tidus almost wanted to wonder whether or not they were on a schedule, because Wakka seemed a bit rushed…

Close ahead, they spotted the beach Wakka first washed ashore and met Wakka on. All the blitzball trainees were gone, but more people crowded the docks where a large ship had been waiting.

_We're going on a ship, hm… _

Silently approaching, all the woman smiled softly, and bowed to us, but Tidus figured it was directed towards Yuna. All the children ran about her, some of them stopping to tug at her kimono, pleading her not to leave, crying. The men simply smiled and watched her pass, nodding a "good luck" to her.

_I guess this is the beginning of our journey… _my_ journey… we're really off to go fight with Sin. But, I won't be here when they defeat it, I'm hoping to go home when I see Sin… Home, back in Zanarkand…_

The ship's horn blew loudly as everyone got aboard, leaning off the railings of the ship to wave goodbye. Many more women and children were crying like she was never coming back.

…_She is coming back, isn't she?_

Tidus pondered, but doubted he would live the day here in Besaid to see that moment. He leaned against a wooden support, and waited it out. No one would wave goodbye to him. He left a bad paw print in Besaid back at the temple, and no one knew him anyway…

The ship's horn sounded once more, and he felt it begin to move, watching the beach as it slowly began to retreat itself from his sight, foot by foot, further away as it gained distance.

Everyone was still waving, calling, hollering their goodbyes, the ship sounding its horn as a goodbye as well…

Tidus wouldn't be saying goodbye. He was merely greeting the adventure before him…

"Goodbye." Yuna softly spoke.

-+-+-+-

**A/N:****  
**I finally managed to finish this chapter off by memory. From now on, for full fluency of the story in its most organic form, and not by a blurry memory, I'll play the game _as_ I work on the story. So every description and dialogue will be to its fullest. I hope you enjoyed this rather lengthy chapter. Remember to leave a review on your way out! I would highly appreciate it very, very much.**  
**

_**UPDATES:**__  
__7/31/07 -_ Added description when Tidus searches for withered bouquet and flint in Chapter 4 _"Alone in a Foreign World"._ A blind mistake!


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